UK convicts two Iranians of spying on journalists

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 13 November 2026 |  JP Global Monitoring

Two Iranian men have been convicted in the UK of spying on London-based Iran International journalists. One was also found guilty of preparing serious violence. The convictions have renewed concerns about threats to journalists working in exile. Sentencing is scheduled for December 17.

Summary

LONDON — Two Iranian men have been convicted of spying on journalists working for the London-based broadcaster Iran International, in a case that has renewed concerns about threats facing exiled journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the November 12 convictions on Friday, November 13, but warned that those responsible for directing and financing operations against journalists must also face justice.

Surveillance and prosecution evidence

CPJ said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tasked the men with monitoring targets including Iran International journalists Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, as well as a lawyer and a media production professional. The trial lasted six weeks, the press freedom organization said.

The Crown Prosecution Service said images, videos and messages showed Sepahvand monitoring homes and workplaces to locate people associated with the broadcaster. Prosecutors said he led contact with handlers in Iran after being promised tens of thousands of pounds, while Manesh supplied information, photographs and videos.

In one message to a contact, Sepahvand requested £150,000 to finish off a target once found, the prosecution service said. Frank Ferguson, head of its Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said the defendants were stopped before an attack took place.

The convictions for assisting a foreign intelligence service were brought under the United Kingdom's National Security Act 2023. Sepahvand's additional conviction concerned preparatory conduct, including surveillance, reconnaissance and research using publicly available information, with the intention of committing serious violence against a person in the United Kingdom.

Defendants' accounts and verdicts

Manesh was acquitted of the separate preparatory-conduct charge. A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of all charges and discharged.

According to the prosecution service, Sepahvand admitted spying and acknowledged that his conduct was likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, but said he feared the consequences of not complying. The Guardian reported that he said his family had been threatened and that he never intended to carry out a killing.

The newspaper reported that Manesh maintained he did not know the men were working with Iranian intelligence and gave an innocent explanation for photographing the broadcaster's premises. The judge remanded the two convicted men ahead of sentencing at the Central Criminal Court, commonly known as the Old Bailey.

Concerns for journalists

The Guardian reported that Hosseini left home and stopped working as a stand-up comedian following threats. CPJ's Europe and Central Asia regional director, Fiona O'Brien, welcomed the convictions and said those who paid and instructed the men should also be brought to justice.

Iran International spokesperson Adam Baillie told CPJ that the verdicts did not make its journalists safer while, in the broadcaster's assessment, threats and violence against them continued. Associated Press reported that Iran's embassy in the United Kingdom has generally rejected allegations of involvement in violent activities in Britain; that account did not establish a response to this verdict.

The case is separate from proceedings over the 2024 stabbing of Iran International presenter Pouria Zeraati, for which two men were sentenced earlier in 2026. CPJ also noted ongoing proceedings linked to an April 2026 arson attack on the broadcaster's premises.

ATTRIBUTION: Committee to Protect Journalists (November 13, 2026); UK Crown Prosecution Service, The Guardian and Associated Press (November 12, 2026).