Three Iranian men appeared before the court on Saturday in London, accused of having helped Iran’s intelligence service by targeting individuals in Great Britain.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39 years old; Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44 years old; And Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, were charged under the National Security Act of Great Britain to engage in a conduct likely to help a foreign intelligence service between August 14 of last year and February 16.
They are also accused of having surveillance and recognition as part of a plan to commit serious violence against an individual, which has not been identified.
The arrests intervene in an increasingly worrying context of the efforts of Iranian agents to target British citizens and residents.
Metropolitan police said in a statement that the men had been arrested and detained on May 3. “The foreign state to which the accusations relate is Iran,” added the press release.
The BBC reported that the three had been accused of having targeted journalists working for International Iran, an independent and Persian -based broadcaster in London who criticized the Iranian government.
The three accused, who live in London, had illegally entered Great Britain between 2016 and 2022, and two were among the thousands who went to the country on small boats in France.
“The charges against these three people must now take their course through the criminal justice system, and nothing should be done to harm these procedures,” said Yvette Cooper, British interior secretary.
“But we will also take separate measures to solve the very serious problems raised by this case,” added Ms. Cooper. “The police have confirmed that the foreign state to which these accusations relate is Iran, and Iran must be held to take into account its actions.”
By thanking the police, Ms. Cooper said, “We will not tolerate the growing threats of the state on our soil.”
In a speech of last year, Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, the British domestic security service, identified Iran as a country of growing concern for the police to fight terrorism. He said that since January 2022, the security services have been investigating 20 plots supported by Iran which laid potentially fatal threats to British citizens and residents.
