Two Romanian men have been sentenced for the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station in London. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, were found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm for the March 2024 attack on Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Iran International, outside his home in Wimbledon.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said the "evidence overwhelmingly points" to the attack being carried out on behalf of the Iranian authorities. "I am sure that this was an attack carried out for and for the benefit of a foreign power," she said during sentencing at London's Central Criminal Court.
UK security officials claim Iran is behind a growing number of plots on British soil targeting opposition media and the Jewish community. Iran International had previously received threats due to its critical coverage of Iran's theocratic government.
Police said former professional soccer player Badea and another man attacked Zeraati before fleeing in a getaway car driven by Stana and then flying out of the country from Heathrow Airport. Badea and Stana were arrested in Romania in December 2024 and extradited to the UK. A third suspect, David Andrei, is subject to criminal proceedings in Romania.
The judge sentenced Stana to 12 years and Badea to 8 years in prison. Iran's senior diplomat in the UK denied Tehran was behind the attack.
Zeraati recovered and returned to work but said in a victim impact statement that the incident left him "scared and anxious" and he had to relocate abroad "for fear of any reprisals."
Chief Superintendent Kris Wright of Counter Terrorism Policing London said: "It was our case that this targeted and violent attack on a journalist was carried out on behalf of the Iranian regime, and the judge agreed with that assessment of the evidence."
MI5 head Ken McCallum said in October that more than 20 "potentially lethal Iran-backed plots" had been disrupted in the previous 12 months.