{"id":623416,"date":"2026-06-05T22:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/623416\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T22:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:18:09","slug":"two-men-convicted-of-wounding-journalist-in-london-on-orders-of-iran-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/623416\/","title":{"rendered":"Two men convicted of wounding journalist in London \u2018on orders of Iran\u2019 | Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two men have been found guilty of involvement in a targeted knife attack on an Iranian journalist in London<\/a> said to have been carried out on behalf of the regime in Tehran.<\/p>\n

Pouria Zeraati, a British journalist of Iranian origin, was working for Iran<\/a> International, a Farsi-language dissident broadcaster, when he was stabbed in the leg outside his west London home in 2024.<\/p>\n

On Friday, jurors found Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.<\/p>\n

The Romanians, who denied the charges, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 3 July. A third man accused of involvement, David Andrei, was arrested in Romania but was not involved in the trial at Woolwich crown court in south-east London.<\/p>\n

Pouria Zeraati, a British journalist of Iranian origin, was stabbed three times in the thigh as he walked to his Wimbledon home. Photograph: @pouriazeraati<\/p>\n

Zeraati was stabbed three times in the thigh as he walked to his Wimbledon home in 2024, in a \u201cplanned attack preceded by reconnaissance which was ordered by a third party acting on behalf of the Iranian state\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said the pair had targeted Zeraati, whose channel\u2019s opposition coverage and Saudi backing led Tehran to designate it as a terrorist organisation in 2022. Jurors were shown images of posters in Tehran that featured journalists including Zeraati with the words \u201cWanted: dead or alive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, said all three men had acted as a team and carried out \u201cextensive surveillance and reconnaissance\u201d for the attack \u201cordered by a third party\u201d.<\/p>\n

CCTV of the attack in Wimbledon showing Nandito Badea, left, and Pouria Zeraati, right. Photograph: Counter-terrorism policing\/PA<\/p>\n

Badea wielded the knife while Andrei, not on trial, was also part of the attack, according to the victim. Stana waited in a getaway car spotted on CCTV footage during \u201chostile reconnaissance\u201d carried out before the attack.<\/p>\n

Badea and Stana told police they were surprised by the stabbing and claimed Andrei was the real culprit. Their presence in the UK was funded by others, including a company called Hemroc Ltd through Stana\u2019s sister\u2019s bank account. Jurors were told the attackers were seen laughing as they fled the scene.<\/p>\n

Pouria Zeraati\u2019s photograph, top right, appeared on \u2018Wanted: dead or alive\u2019 posters put up around Tehran in November 2022. Photograph: Counter-terrorism policing\/PA<\/p>\n

The head of Iran\u2019s diplomatic mission in the UK has denied any link between Tehran and the attack on Zeraati.<\/p>\n

The war in Iran has broadened to diaspora communities in the UK, including arson attacks against Iranian dissidents and Jewish people.<\/p>\n

This month, another man will stand trial for allegedly working on behalf of Iran to carry out surveillance on a journalist at Iran International.<\/p>\n

In April, London-based Iranian journalists told the Guardian<\/a> they feared for their lives after a spate of threats and physical attacks that they blame on a Tehran regime determined to silence Persian-language news media.<\/p>\n

Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service\u2019s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said the evidence showed the Zeraati case was \u201ca deliberate, targeted attack on a journalist, carried out after months of planning and surveillance\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThese convictions reflect the strength of that evidence and the seriousness of an offence designed to silence a journalist through intimidation and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two men have been found guilty of involvement in a targeted knife attack on an Iranian journalist in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-623416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}