FILE: The Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) in London, photographed February 24, 2012. The two convicted men are due to be sentenced here on December 17, 2026. Photo: Tbmurray / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0; cropped and resized.
Two men were convicted Thursday of assisting a foreign intelligence service after conducting surveillance on journalists and a lawyer on behalf of Iran, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were convicted under the National Security Act 2023 following a trial at Woolwich Crown Court. A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of all offences against him.
The CPS said the operation targeted critics of the Iranian regime, including journalists associated with an international broadcaster banned by Iran. Prosecutors said the defendants were stopped before any attack took place.
“This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime,” said Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division.
Devices and Location Data Built the Case
According to the CPS, videos, photographs and text messages recovered from devices showed surveillance of targets’ homes and workplaces. Sepahvand led contact with handlers in Iran, while Manesh supplied him with information, photographs and videos.
The prosecution service said Sepahvand had been promised tens of thousands of pounds. A message to his contact in Iran asked for £150,000 to “finish [the target] off” once the person had been found, according to the release.
The CPS said Sepahvand admitted spying and acknowledged that his actions could help a foreign intelligence service, but claimed he had been forced to act through fear of the consequences of refusing. Prosecutors had to establish that his actions were intentional and that he knew, or reasonably should have known, that the reconnaissance was likely to assist foreign intelligence activity in the UK.
The release also described cell-site evidence placing him in a London area during surveillance in late 2024, along with photographs, searches and addresses found on his phone relating to a target who had moved out of their home because of security concerns.
Sepahvand and Manesh are due to be sentenced at the Central Criminal Court on December 17, 2026. No sentence was announced Thursday.
Source: Crown Prosecution Service’s November 12 announcement.
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