Two men convicted of wounding journalist in London ‘on orders of Iran’

Two men have been found guilty of involvement in a targeted knife attack on an Iranian journalist in London said to have been carried out on behalf of the regime in Tehran.Pouria Zeraati, a British journalist of Iranian origin, was working for Iran-international" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="7729" data-entity-type="organization">Iran International, a Farsi-language dissident broadcaster, when he was stabbed in the leg outside his west London home in 2024.On Friday, jurors found Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.The Romanians, who denied the charges, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 3 July. A third man accused of involvement, David Andrei, was arrested in Romania but was not involved in the trial at Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London.Pouria Zeraati, a British journalist of Iranian origin, was stabbed three times in the thigh as he walked to his Wimbledon home. Photograph: @pouriazeraatiZeraati was stabbed three times in the thigh as he walked to his Wimbledon home in 2024, in a “planned attack preceded by reconnaissance which was ordered by a third party acting on behalf of the Iranian state”.Prosecutors said the pair had targeted Zeraati, whose channel’s opposition coverage and Saudi backing led Tehran to designate it as a terrorist organisation in 2022. Jurors were shown images of posters in Tehran that featured journalists including Zeraati with the words “Wanted: dead or alive”.Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, said all three men had acted as a team and carried out “extensive surveillance and reconnaissance” for the attack “ordered by a third party”.CCTV of the attack in Wimbledon showing Nandito Badea, left, and Pouria Zeraati, right. Photograph: Counter-terrorism policing/PABadea wielded the knife while Andrei, not on trial, was also part of the attack, according to the victim. Stana waited in a getaway car spotted on CCTV footage during “hostile reconnaissance” carried out before the attack.Badea and Stana told police they were surprised by the stabbing and claimed Andrei was the real culprit. Their presence in the UK was funded by others, including a company called Hemroc Ltd through Stana’s sister’s bank account. Jurors were told the attackers were seen laughing as they fled the scene.Pouria Zeraati’s photograph, top right, appeared on ‘Wanted: dead or alive’ posters put up around Tehran in November 2022. Photograph: Counter-terrorism policing/PAThe head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in the UK has denied any link between Tehran and the attack on Zeraati.The war in Iran has broadened to diaspora communities in the UK, including arson attacks against Iranian dissidents and Jewish people.This month, another man will stand trial for allegedly working on behalf of Iran to carry out surveillance on a journalist at Iran-international" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="7729" data-entity-type="organization">Iran International.In April, London-based Iranian journalists told the Guardian they feared for their lives after a spate of threats and physical attacks that they blame on a Tehran regime determined to silence Persian-language news media.Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said the evidence showed the Zeraati case was “a deliberate, targeted attack on a journalist, carried out after months of planning and surveillance”.He added: “These convictions reflect the strength of that evidence and the seriousness of an offence designed to silence a journalist through intimidation and violence.”