Two Iranian nationals who arrived in the UK illegally have been found guilty of spying for their country in the first case of its kind.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, carried out surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and March last year with the goal of inflicting violence on “subjects” in the UK.
Mostafa Sepahvand during his arrest. Pic: Met Police© Other
Among his targets were Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, journalists for London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International, and Jonathan Turner, a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel.
Mostafa Sepahvand: Pic: Elizabeth Cook/PA© PA
He visited addresses linked to his targets, took photos and videos, and used platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online.
The prosecution said Sepahvand, who came to Britain in a lorry, intended to carry out a “violent attack” against at least one of the men.
Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, who arrived in the UK by small boat, assisted in planning.
Sepahvand boasted of contacts inside the Iranian embassy in London, and said he wanted £150,000 to “finish off” one Iran International journalist, the trial heard.
He was also sent “tasking documents” from Iranian contacts believed to have been members of, or working for, the Iranian intelligence agency.
Sepahvand, of St John’s Wood, north London, hoped by his actions to get a conviction for theft in Iran quashed.
In one message shown to jurors, he was told: “You are expected to hit or kill the journalist.”
In a later voice note he complained about how little he had been paid for conducting surveillance, before adding: “They pay the £150,000, and I’ll finish them off.”
Sepahvand and Manesh denied engaging in conduct likely to assist Iran’s intelligence service, but both were found guilty on Thursday.
A third man, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was cleared of the charge.
Sepahvand also denied a charge of engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research with the intention to commit serious violence against a person in the UK, but was convicted.
Manesh and Noori, both of London, were acquitted of engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others.
Counter-terrorism police say it’s the first time Iranian nationals have been prosecuted for National Security Act offences.
Frank Ferguson, chief Crown prosecutor of the CPS’s special crime and counter terrorism division, said: “This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime.
“Sepahvand and Manesh were promised rewards to send intelligence back to contacts in Iran, and Sepahvand himself was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets.
Thankfully, the defendants were stopped before any attack could take place.
“Cases like this show Iranian intelligence’s willingness to use proxies to target the regime’s critics abroad.
“The CPS is alive to these ever-evolving threats and, through our work with Counter Terrorism Policing, stands ready to prosecute any hostile actors who might try and jeopardise our country’s security.”
The Metropolitan Police said sentencing will take place at the Old Bailey on 17 December.
The Met’s deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), said: “It is clear the arrests of these two men by Counter Terrorism Policing officers prevented serious violence from being inflicted on one or more individuals in the UK.
“Following the arrests, the investigation team worked diligently and quickly to translate into English thousands of messages in Farsi and then used mobile phone cell site data to build a compelling record of the surveillance.
“The activity laid out in this case reflects a pattern of Iran targeting Persian language media in the UK, particularly Iran International.
“Indeed, this is the fourth case in recent years involving direct threat to Iran International journalists and we are working hard to keep them safe.”
