Two men found guilty of spying on journalists in Britain for Iran

Two Iranian men have been found guilty of spying on dissident journalists in Britain on behalf of Iranian intelligence.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of engaging in conduct likely to assist Iran’s intelligence service this morning.

The pair carried out surveillance between August 2024 and March 2025, in an attempt to inflict violence on "subjects" in the UK.

The "subjects" include Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, working for London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International, and Jonathan Turner, a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel.

The surveillence the pair conducted included using online platforms such as ChatGPT to research personal information, travelling to addresses linked to the targets, and taking photos and videos of various locations.

Sepahvand intended to carry out a "violent attack" against at least one of the individuals, prosecutors said, while Manesh assisted in the plans.

Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was found not guilty of the same charge.

Sepahvand, Manesh and Noori had all been granted leave to granted temporary leave to remain in the UK after claiming asylum.

Sepahvand secretly arrived in 2016 in a lorry.

The other two arrived in small boats between 2016 and 2022.

Following the charges in 2025, Yvette Cooper, who was Home Secretary at the time, said: "Iran must be held to account for its actions."

She added: "We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil."

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