British prosecutors have accused three Iranians of spying on foreign journalists
On Tuesday, October 14, British prosecutors accused three Iranian men living in the country of spying on anti-government journalists in Britain on behalf of the intelligence and security organizations of the Islamic Republic.
The purpose of their espionage is described as: a ground attack on anti-government journalists "as retaliation for their criticism of the Iranian regime."
Their names were announced as Mostafa Sepahvand (41), Farhad Javad Timanesh (46), and Shahpour Kalalikhani Nouri (57), and their charges were brought by prosecutors at a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in London.
These three individuals are accused of monitoring the activities of journalists working for the Persian-language television channel "Iran International" between August 2024 and March 2025.
All three defendants denied the charges. Bill Emlyn Jones, prosecuting, told the jury at the court hearing: "Silencing critical voices has effectively become one of the main policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
He stated that these three defendants investigated at least two Iran International journalists, visited locations associated with them, and took photos and videos to prepare for the ground attack that was to be carried out by Sepahvand.
This British legal official said: "Their ultimate goal was for one person, and possibly more than one person, among these targeted individuals to become a victim of extreme violence; an action that was undoubtedly retaliation against their criticism of the Iranian regime and an attempt to silence and intimidate others."
He told the court that these three defendants agreed to go to those locations and take photos and videos, but they disagree among themselves regarding the motive and reason for doing so. Emlyn Jones added that the claim of Farhad Javad Timanesh and Shahpour Nouri is that they did not know they were doing this to help Iran's intelligence service, while Mostafa Sepahvand admitted he was aware of the issue, but claimed he was forced to do so "under pressure or threats."
Court hearings in this case are expected to last another six weeks.