London court finds 2 Iranian men guilty of spying for Iran

LONDON — Two Iranian men who spied on journalists working for a Persian-language broadcaster in London were found guilty Thursday of spying for Iran.

Following a six-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court in south London, Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were convicted of engaging in conduct likely to assist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC was outlawed by the U.K. in July under new powers to counteract state threats, with penalties of up to 14 years in prison for anyone convicted of supporting or assisting the organization.

A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted on all charges.

“This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime,” said Frank Ferguson, chief prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division.

He said the pair were promised rewards in exchange for sending intelligence back to Iran, while Sepahvand was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets.

These included journalists for Iran International, Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, and a founding member of UK Lawyers for Israel, Jonathan Turner. Iran International is banned by the government in Tehran.

London’s Metropolitan Police said this was…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world