Two men have been convicted at Woolwich Crown Court of helping Iranian intelligence target journalists at the London-based broadcaster Iran International. Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found guilty unanimously on Thursday 12 November under the National Security Act after a six-week trial.
Both were convicted of conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, Iran International reports. Sepahvand was also convicted of surveillance and reconnaissance with intent to commit serious violence.
Javadi Manesh was acquitted of a separate charge of surveillance intending to facilitate serious violence by others. A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of all charges. Sentencing will take place at a later date.
Prosecutors said the reconnaissance ran from August 2024 to March 2025, AOL reports. The targets included Iran International journalists Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, and Jonathan Turner of UK Lawyers for Israel. Prosecutors also said the defendants used platforms including ChatGPT to research their targets.
Frank Ferguson, chief prosecutor in the CPS special crime and counter-terrorism division, said, as reported by Yahoo News:
"This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime"