World
Two Men Guilty of Aiding Iranian Plot Against UK Journalists
Two men of Iranian origin have been convicted of conducting surveillance in the UK as part of a foreign plot to target journalists and dissidents.
Mostafa Sepahvand and Farhad Javadi Manesh were found guilty of assisting Iranian intelligence services after conducting surveillance and reconnaissance on targets in the UK between August 2024 and March of the following year. Their targets included journalists from the London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International and a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel. The defendants used social media, messaging platforms, and ChatGPT to research their targets and communicate with handlers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Prosecutors stated that the pair engaged in spying and planned to escalate from surveillance to violence against critics of the Iranian regime.
Powered by AI