Three Iranian men on trial for spying on UK-based journalists, planning 'serious violence'

"Eliminating hostile or critical voices... has effectively become a staple policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told jurors.

Three Iranian men spied on British-based dissident journalists on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service in order to attack them "as retribution for their criticism of the Iranian regime," prosecutors told a London jury on Tuesday.

The trio is accused of surveilling journalists working for Iran International, a Persian-language television station which is critical of Iran's government, between August 2024 and March 2025.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, have each denied two charges under Britain's National Security Act, brought in to give the authorities new powers to target threats from foreign states.

Their trial at Woolwich Crown Court began this week at a time of growing tension between Britain and Iran, which prosecutors say has repeatedly targeted critics and dissidents both inside the Islamic Republic and abroad.

"Eliminating hostile or critical voices... has effectively become a staple policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told jurors.

Targeting of Iran International journalists, UK-based dissident Iranian news organization

He said the three defendants conducted research about at least two Iran International journalists, visiting addresses linked to them and taking photos and videos in preparation for an attack which Sepahvand was to carry out.

"Their ultimate objective was that one, perhaps more than one, of these targets would be subjected to serious violence, no doubt as retribution for their criticism of the Iranian regime and to try to silence and deter others," Emlyn Jones said.

He told the court the three defendants accepted going to places and taking photos and videos, but disputed why they had done so.

Emlyn Jones said Manesh and Noori's case was that they did not know they were doing so to assist Iranian intelligence, while Sepahvand accepted he knew but had been "bullied or threatened into doing what he did."