UK court finds two Iranian men guilty of spying for Iran

Two Iranian men have been found guilty of spying for Tehran by a court in the United Kingdom after being accused of conducting surveillance on several people, including journalists for a Persian-language broadcaster in London. 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. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was outlawed by the UK 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 organisation.

“This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime,” Frank Ferguson, chief prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counterterrorism division, told reporters. He said the pair were promised rewards to send intelligence back to Iran, while Sepahvand was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit a “violent attack” against at least one of the targets.