Alleged Iranian spies planned ‘serious violence’ against UK journalists, court hears

Mostafa Sepahvand, Farhad Javadi Manesh and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori did not dispute they surveilled targets

Three alleged Iranian spies carried out surveillance and reconnaissance to target journalists in the UK as part of a plan to commit “serious violence”, a court heard on Tuesday.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, are charged with offences under the National Security Act.

Their “subjects” included Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, journalists for London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International, as well as a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel, Jonathan Turner, the court was told.

The prosecution alleges Sepahvand intended to physically carry out a “violent attack” against at least one of the targets, while Manesh and Noori assisted in planning.

Sepahvand claims he was threatened into conducting surveillance against his will, but the prosecution described this as an “entirely bogus claim”, telling jurors he did it to get paid and have his theft conviction in Iran “fixed”.

In a voice note read out to Woolwich crown court in London, Sepahvand told an associate he would “finish off” a target if he was paid £150,000.

“They made me a promise and said: ‘We’ll sort out your matter/court case, and we’ll give you £150,000 as well. Finish the job. We’ll show you him/her (the target),’” he said.

“This is an illegal job. It’s something that constitutes a criminal offence, and it carries a heavy prison sentence. At the absolute minimum, they should transfer £10,000 for now.

“Wherever they tell me, I’ll go there and stand there. If the person (the target) is inside, they pay the £150,000, and I’ll finish him/her off.”

The defendants were said to have visited addresses linked to their targets, taken photos and videos and used platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online between August 2024 and March last year.

There was no dispute that the three defendants conducted the surveillance and reconnaissance, the jury was told.

Sepahvand accepts he was doing so for the benefit of the Iranian regime but claims he was threatened or bullied into doing it, and that he “deliberately did a bad job of it”, the prosecution said.

The Crown added that Manesh and Noori claimed they did not know they were carrying out the surveillance to assist the Iranian intelligence service.

The defendants are charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service.

Sepahvand, of St John’s Wood, north London, is also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research with the intention to commit serious violence against a person in the UK.

Manesh, of Brent, and Noori, of Ealing, are also charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others.

The three men, who deny all the charges, were assisted by interpreters in the dock. The trial continues.