LONDON (The Thursday Times) — Two Iranian men have been convicted in Britain of spying for Tehran after they carried out surveillance on two journalists at the London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International and a lawyer, in what prosecutors said was preparation for violence ordered by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday of assisting a foreign intelligence service. A third man, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was cleared.
The jury also convicted Sepahvand of preparatory conduct. Manesh was cleared of that charge.
Targets photographed and researched
The court heard that between August 2024 and March 2025 the pair visited addresses linked to their targets, took photographs and video, and researched them online, including with ChatGPT. The targets included the Iran International journalists Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, Jonathan Turner, a founding member of UK Lawyers for Israel, and a media production professional.
Police said the men had been given documents with pictures of the targets, their work addresses, the make and colour of their cars, and the names of their pets. Officers seized 534GB of data.
Prosecutors said Sepahvand took orders on WhatsApp from a handler described as a Revolutionary Guards commander called Amin, and hoped to be paid £150,000 for a violent attack. “If the person is inside, they pay the £150,000, and I’ll finish him off,” he said in a voice note played to the court.
“Eliminating hostile, critical or dissident actors overseas is a staple policy of the Islamic republic,” the prosecutor, Bill Emlyn Jones KC, told the jury.
Satirist forced from his home
Hosseini, a 51-year-old satirist, had to leave his home and stop performing stand-up comedy because of the threats, the court heard. He was sent a picture of his car with a message saying it would blow up the next time he started the engine, and his relatives in Iran were also threatened.
Sepahvand told the court his family had been threatened and that he never meant to carry out an attack, and he denied targeting Turner. Manesh said he had photographed the broadcaster’s building because it was “a beautiful building” and did not know he was working for Iranian intelligence.
Both men, from west London, are asylum seekers who had been given temporary leave to remain. Sepahvand reached Britain in the back of a lorry and Manesh in a small boat.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said it was the first time ChatGPT search history had been presented as evidence in a state threat case.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb remanded both men in custody. They will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 17.
