Iran pair guilty of spying on London-based journalists 'for Tehran'

Detailed summary

A UK jury on Thursday found two Iranian men guilty of spying for Iran's intelligence service, as a chief prosecutor said it showed Tehran's willingness to use "proxies" to target…

A UK jury on Thursday found two Iranian men guilty of spying for Iran's intelligence service, as a chief prosecutor said it showed Tehran's willingness to use "proxies" to target the regime's critics abroad.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Manesh, 46, carried out surveillance and reconnaissance on targets that included two journalists, a lawyer and a media production professional between August 2024 and March last year, with Sepahvand also prepared to commit physical attacks.

The men, who lived in London, had denied engaging in conduct likely to assist Iran's intelligence service but were found guilty by a jury at the capital's Woolwich Crown Court.

The defendants were accused of visiting addresses linked to their targets, taking photos and videos, and using platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online.

"This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime," said Frank Ferguson of the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division.

"Sepahvand and Manesh were promised rewards to send intelligence back to contacts in Iran, and Sepahvand himself was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets.

"Cases like this show Iranian intelligence's willingness to use proxies to target the regime's critics abroad," the chief prosecutor added.

The prosecution said Sepahvand had intended to physically carry out a "violent attack" against at least one of the targets.

Those targeted for surveillance included journalists Kambiz Hosseini and Mojtaba Pourmohsen, who work for the London-based Farsi-language Iran International television news network, which Tehran has labelled a terror organisation.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Al-Monitor. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.