LONDON: Two Iranian men have been convicted of spying on journalists working for London-based Persian-language broadcaster Iran International, in a case that prosecutors said exposed a plot to gather intelligence on targets and potentially carry out serious violence against them.

Mostafa Sepahvand and Farhad Javadi Manesh were found guilty on Thursday at Woolwich Crown Court of assisting a foreign intelligence service, contrary to the UK’s National Security Act 2023. Sepahvand was also convicted of conducting surveillance and reconnaissance with the intention of committing serious violence against a person in the UK.

The six-week trial heard that the pair had been tasked by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to monitor several people, including Iran International journalists Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, as well as a lawyer and a media production professional.

They are due to be sentenced on Dec. 17.

Evidence presented in court included videos, photographs and text messages showing Sepahvand conducting surveillance of the targets’ homes and workplaces, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. The aim was also to identify other journalists connected to the broadcaster.

Sepahvand had been promised tens of thousands of pounds for the operation and acted as the main point of contact with handlers in Iran, while Manesh passed him information, photographs and videos.

In one message, Sepahvand asked a contact in Iran for £150,000 ($198,420) to “finish (the target) off” once they had been located.

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS’ Special Crime and Counter Terrorism division, described the operation as a calculated attempt to spy on people critical of the Iranian government.

“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,” he said. “Thankfully, the defendants were stopped before any attack could take place.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the convictions, saying the case highlighted the threats faced by Iranian journalists working in exile.

“The shocking evidence presented in this trial once again shows the lengths Iran is prepared to go to in order to silence journalists, wherever they are in the world,” said Fiona O’Brien, CPJ’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia.

“Iranian journalists working from exile — who provide essential reporting for audiences Iran would rather keep in the dark — experience an intolerable level of threat every day. While it’s encouraging to see the perpetrators of crimes against them being held accountable, those who paid and instructed them must also be brought to justice.”

Iranian journalists outside the country have faced physical and online attacks, sanctions, legal proceedings and harassment of relatives in Iran. London, home to Iran International and BBC Persian, has been a particular focus of such activity.

Tehran has accused both broadcasters of being terrorist organizations, while denying that it directly targets their journalists.

The latest convictions follow a series of cases in Britain involving attacks or surveillance linked to Iran International. In 2023, a Chechen-born Austrian national was sentenced to three years and six months in prison after being convicted of conducting surveillance on the broadcaster’s London premises.

Earlier this year, two Romanian men received prison sentences of 12 and eight years for their roles in the 2024 stabbing of Iran International presenter Pouria Zeraati.

In a separate case, Greek national Ioannis Aidinidis, 46, has been charged with surveilling an Iran International journalist. Proceedings are also continuing in connection with an arson attack on the broadcaster’s premises in April.

Iran International spokesman Adam Baillie said the broadcaster remained grateful for police vigilance but warned that the verdicts would not remove the threat to its staff.

“The Woolwich trial has ended, but today’s verdicts don’t make the lives of our journalists any safer so long as the Islamic Republic of Iran continues its campaign of death threats and violence against them,” he told CPJ.

Manesh was acquitted of a separate charge of conducting surveillance intending to facilitate serious violence by others. A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of all charges.