Mostafa Sepahvand and Farhad Javadi Manesh have been convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service after a case involving reported surveillance of UK-based journalists. The verdict matters because it moves alleged intimidation of dissident media figures from a security warning into a specific jury finding, while leaving sentencing and the exact penalties for the court to decide.
The Guardian reported that the men carried out surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and March 2025. Targets included Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini of the London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International, as well as Jonathan Turner of UK Lawyers for Israel. The report said addresses were visited and photographs and videos taken.
Sepahvand, 41, was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service and of preparatory conduct. Manesh, 46, was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service but cleared of preparatory conduct. A third defendant, Shapoor Noori, was cleared of both charges. Those distinctions are central: the jury did not return identical verdicts for every defendant or every allegation.
At trial, prosecutors attributed the operation to Iranian intelligence and said the surveillance formed part of a plan to harm targets. Those were the prosecution's allegations and case theory. Sepahvand said his family had been threatened and denied intending to carry out an attack; Manesh said he did not know he was assisting Iranian intelligence. The guilty verdicts settle the offences of which the jury convicted them, but they do not erase the differing counts, defences or the sentencing process still to come.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb remanded both men in custody. They are due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 17 December. The case is a sharp reminder that safeguarding journalists in Britain requires attention not only to overt threats, but also to the quieter groundwork of surveillance that can make threats actionable.
Sources
- The Guardian · UK · Source date: 2026-11-12
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-12