Illegal migrants convicted of spying for Iran - 'stopped before attack could take place'

Detailed summary

The men compiled an astonishing level of detail on their targets, including their home addresses, their workplaces and the names of their pets.

Two illegal migrants have been found guilty of spying for Iran. Mostafa Sepahvand, who arrived in the back of a lorry, and small boat arrival Farhad Manesh, “were promised rewards to send intelligence back to contacts in Iran," a court heard. Sepahvand was even prepared to attack journalists critical of the Iranian mullahs.

The two spies have been convicted at Woolwich Crown Court of helping Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp and conducting surveillance on targets including Iran International reporters Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, as well as a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel, Jonathan Turner.

The men compiled an astonishing level of detail on their targets, including their home addresses, their workplaces and the names of their pets. They will be sentenced on December 17.

Detectives revealed that "in messages to his contacts in Iran about one of the targets, Sepahvand referenced ‘finishing him off’.

“He was partly motivated by the promise of £150,000 from his contacts in the IRGC. He also expected the IRGC to ‘fix’ his conviction in Iran for theft."

Counter-terrorism chiefs said Iran is hiring nationals with "settled immigration statuses" to carry out conspiracies on their behalf.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), said: “The threat from hostile states to the UK is increasing and Iran continues to adapt its approach to using ‘proxies’, we have seen examples of people who fly into the country to carry out criminal activity and then leave shortly afterwards, to using British nationals or, in this case, Iranian nationals with settled immigration status.

“People are often tasked via social media with the promise of large amounts of money, as seen in this case."

Frank Ferguson, chief Crown prosecutor of the CPS’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime.

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