Alleged Iranian spies charged with targeting UK-based journalists

Three alleged Iranian spies have appeared in court charged with targeting UK-based journalists so that "serious violence" could be inflicted on them.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, all from London, appeared in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

They are accused of targeting individual journalists working for Iran International, an independent media organisation based in London.

The three defendants were granted temporary leave to remain in the UK after claiming asylum. They arrived in the UK, including by small boats, between 2016 and 2022. Mr Sepahvand arrived in 2016 concealed in a lorry.

The three men are charged with committing offences under the National Security Act between 2024 and this year. They were arrested two weeks ago.

They are charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, namely that of Iran, in carrying out UK-related activities and knew or ought to have reasonably known their conduct was likely to assist a foreign intelligence service.

"Iran must be held to account for its actions," Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement following Saturday's charges.

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

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

Mr Manesh, of Kensal Rise, London and Mr Noori, of Ealing, London 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.

A fourth man, 31, was arrested on 9 May as part of the investigation but was released without charge on Thursday, police said.

It is alleged the three men carried out surveillance with a view to locating journalists associated with Iran International.

Iran International produces coverage that is critical of the current regime in Iran and has been proscribed in Iran as a terrorist organisation.

The three defendants appeared in the dock wearing grey tracksuits flanked by eight guards. Mr Sepahvand was in a wheelchair.

No pleas were indicated by the men. District Judge Annabel Pilling remanded them in custody to appear the Old Bailey on 6 June.

Cdr Dominic Murphy, from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said the "extremely serious" charges made on Saturday come follow "a very complex and fast-moving investigation".

He said detectives had been "working around the clock" since the men were arrested, and added that officers had been "in contact with the individuals directly affected".

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: "It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings."

The arrest of the three men on 3 May came on the same day that five other Iranian men were detained in London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester by police as part of a separate counter-terrorism investigation.

One of those men was later released on bail until an unspecified date in May, while police obtained further detention orders for the four others until Saturday.

The other four Iranian nationals were released from custody on Saturday, with Cdr Murphy saying "our investigation remains active and ongoing".

The police have stressed that they were not treating the two investigations as linked.