Two men found guilty over Iranian attempts to ‘eliminate’ UK-based journalists
Two men of Iranian origin have been found guilty of engaging in conduct likely to assist Tehran’s intelligence services in a plot to eliminate journalists in the UK.
The pair carried out surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and March last year in an attempt to inflict violence on their targets.
They visited addresses linked to their targets, took photos and videos and used platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online.
The defendants are part of a growing new tactic used by hostile states in which proxies are hired to work for foreign security forces.
Targeted journalists
The subjects of their surveillance included two journalists for the London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International, Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, and a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel, Jonathan Turner.
Sepahvand used the AI platform ChatGPT to find the home address of Pourmohsen, hoping to earn £150,000 to carry out a violent attack and help to “finish off” the journalist.
He chatted on WhatsApp to his handler, an IRGC commander called Amin, as he spied on Pourmohsen in December 2024, Woolwich crown court heard.
“These are new pictures of the guy/bloke.”
“I’ll go tomorrow.”
“And that dot is their office?”
“Love you brother, I’ll go there tomorrow.”
The pair also discussed surveillance of Iranian satirist Kambiz Hosseini, who eventually had to leave home because of the threats made against him.
Hosseini was sent a message with a picture of his car saying the next time he started the engine it would blow up. His family in Iran also received threats, and his family had to leave the country.
Motives and convictions
The court heard Sepahvand had been convicted of theft in Iran and was drawn into the plan to “eliminate” dissidents in the hope of reducing his criminal record.
He told his Iranian handlers he was prepared to escalate from surveillance to violence.
He hoped to receive a final payment of £150,000 for “finishing the job”, a reference to killing one of the journalists.
“If the person [the target] is inside, they pay the £150,000, and I’ll finish him off.”
Sepahvand claimed his family were being threatened and he never intended to go through with the hit. He also denied plotting to kill Jonathan Turner of UK Lawyers for Israel.
Manesh claimed he took a picture of the Iran International site because it was “a beautiful building” and did not know they were working with the Iranian intelligence services.
Bill Emlyn Jones KC, prosecuting, said the Islamic Republic of Iran and its rulers do not and cannot tolerate dissent.
“One organisation critical to the regime, and therefore very much in its sights, is Iran International, a news organisation which has come under particular attack because of its explicit support for opposition groups and its editorial stance, which is anti-Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“Eliminating hostile, critical or dissident actors overseas is a staple policy of the Islamic Republic. Together, the defendants were engaged in what is very obviously a form of spying,” Jones said.
Sepahvand was convicted by the jury of assisting a foreign intelligence service and preparatory conduct. Manesh was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service, but cleared of preparatory conduct.
Shapoor Noori, 57, of Ealing, was cleared by the jury of assisting a foreign intelligence service and preparatory conduct.
Sentencing and context
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb remanded Sepahvand and Manesh ahead of sentencing at the Old Bailey on 17 December.
Last month the Norwegian teenager Johannes Natland, 19, was jailed for life after he agreed to carry out a hit in Huddersfield for the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime group backed by the Iranian regime.
Earlier this year, Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, were jailed at the Old Bailey for seven and two years respectively for arson attacks on property connected to Keir Starmer.
An anonymous Russian-speaking figure named El Money had recruited Lavrynovych and Carpiuc on Telegram.
Last year, six Britons were jailed for their parts in a Russian-ordered arson attack on a London warehouse providing aid to Ukraine. The ringleader, Dylan Earl, was recruited by the Wagner group, a mercenary organisation that acts on behalf of the Russian state.
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