Two Iranian men planned ‘violent attack’ in UK while spying on journalists and lawyer

Detailed summary

Sepahvand intended to physically carry out a ‘violent attack’ against at least one of the targets

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.

Two Iranian men have been found guilty of spying on journalists and a lawyer in conduct that was likely to assist Iran’s intelligence service.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, carried out surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and March last year in a bid to inflict violence on “subjects” in the UK.

These “subjects” included journalists for London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International, Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, and a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel, Jonathan Turner.

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.

The prosecution said Sepahvand intended to physically carry out a “violent attack” against at least one of the targets, while Farhad Javadi Manesh, who was also convicted of engaging in conduct likely to assist Iran’s intelligence service, assisted in planning.

Sepahvand lent forward and held his head in his hands when they were found guilty on Thursday after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was cleared of the same charge after jurors deliberated for 19 hours and nine minutes.

Manesh and Noori were acquitted of engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Independent. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.