UK Justice has this Thursday found two Iranian citizens linked allegedly to Iran’s Intelligence services guilty, and accused them of carrying out espionage work on several journalists and a lawyer on British territory.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, have been found guilty by the Woolwich Crown Court of “helping a foreign Intelligence service,” according to what the BCC television network reported, which states that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard would have ordered them to “watch targets.”
According to the court, Sepahvand was planning to carry out a “violent attack” against at least one of the people being watched, while Manesh would have taken part in preparing said attack. A third accused person, identified as Shapoor Qalehali Jani Nuri, 57, was finally acquitted of the same offenses.
The judicial investigation details that both maintained communication with two people who used Iranian phone numbers. In the records carried out by the Police, more than 500 GB of material were seized, in which it was found that the two main defendants had received files with photographs of the potential targets, their professional addresses, the make and color of their cars, and even the names of their pets.
The two convicted men lived in the west of London, the British capital, and were asylum seekers with a temporary residence permit granted. Sepahvand entered the United Kingdom hidden in a truck, while Manesh entered the country on a small vessel.