Mostafa Sepahvand
Two Iranian men who spied on a barrister and two journalists were yesterday convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found to be working on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and convicted under the National Security Act 2023 after a six-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court.
Sepahvand was found guilty of engaging in conduct – surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research – and intending to commit acts, namely serious violence against a person in the UK.
Manesh helped him with the surveillance but was found not guilty of the latter charge.
A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of all charges against him.
One of the targets was Jonathan Turner, an intellectual property and competition law specialist at Three Stone Buildings who chairs the group Jewish Lawyers for Israel.
The journalists worked for Iran International, an international broadcaster banned by the Iranian regime.
Sephavand admitted the offences but claimed he was forced into it through fear of the consequences of not complying. Manesh claimed the surveillance images were taken because he was looking for somewhere new to live.
The jury did not believe them. Woolwich Crown Court heard that officers uncovered briefing documents on the mobile phones of the three men, which included details of the targets for surveillance. Everything had to be translated from Farsi.
The documents were detailed and included pictures of the individuals, the addresses of where they worked, the make and colour of the cars they drove and even the names of their pets.
Farhad Manesh
Sepahvand led the contact with handlers in Iran, while Manesh was feeding him information, photographs and videos.
In one voice note to an Iranian contact, Sephavand said he had been promised that his conviction in Iran for theft would be “sorted out” and he would be paid £150,000. He also referenced “finishing off” someone and, “if they put money in his hands”, he would “do it”.
Photographs, Google searches and addresses were found on Sephavand’s mobile indicating that he was searching for information on a specific target who had already left their home due to security concerns and temporarily moved into a hotel in west London.
Mr Turner commented: “I am pleased and relieved that the two spies have been convicted. I am very grateful to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service for investigating the case and bringing the prosecution – and more generally for all the efforts of the police to keep us safe.
“However, the matters revealed in the trial are a reminder that Iran is a really serious threat to many people in the Middle East – not just Israelis but Arabs as well – and also to people in Britain, including on the streets of our capital.
“No one should under-estimate the seriousness of this threat and the importance of efforts to thwart it.”
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator for counter terrorism policing, said: “The threat from hostile states to the UK is increasing and Iran continues to adapt its approach to using ‘proxies’. We have seen examples of people who fly into the country to carry out criminal activity and then leave shortly afterwards, to using British nationals or, in this case, Iranian nationals with temporary leave to remain.
“People are often tasked via social media with the promise of large amounts of money, as seen in this case. However, the proxy takes on all the risk and will often only receive a fraction, if any, of the promised financial reward.”
Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter terrorism division added: “This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime.
“Sepahvand and Manesh were promised rewards to send intelligence back to contacts in Iran and Sepahvand himself was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets. Thankfully, the defendants were stopped before any attack could take place.
The two men will be sentenced on 17 December.