A journalist working for a Persian-language media outlet was stabbed in London on Friday, police said, and British counterterrorism detectives are investigating over concerns he was targeted for his work.
Police said the man, aged in his 30s, was attacked and injured in the leg during the incident in Wimbledon, south-west London, on Friday afternoon.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the victim was Pouria Zeraati, a prominent Iranian journalist based in the UK who hosted a program on the Persian-language television news network Iran International that criticized Iranian government.
Police said his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening and he is in stable condition.
NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said in a statement: “This cowardly attack on Priya is deeply shocking and our hearts go out to him, his family and The thoughts of all his colleagues at Iran International.”
In January, Britain imposed sanctions on Iranian officials it said were involved in threats to kill journalists on British soil.
The officers were members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Unit 840, which an ITV News investigation alleges was involved in a plot to assassinate two Iranian international television hosts in the UK
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the unit, said: “While we remain open-minded, the investigation will be led by Counter-Terrorism Command given the victim’s occupation and our public concerns about the threat to staff within the organization.” explain.
“I must stress that at this early stage of our investigation we do not know why this victim was attacked and there could be a number of explanations for this.”
Iranian officials did not immediately respond to the report.
British police and security officials have increasingly warned that Iran is increasingly using criminal proxies to carry out attacks abroad.
They say there have been more than 15 direct threats to kill or kidnap dissidents or political opponents with ties to Iran’s state apparatus in the past two years.
In December, an Austrian man was charged with conducting “hostile reconnaissance” at Iran International’s London headquarters and convicted of gathering information that could be used in a terrorist attack.
“It is too early to tell whether this violent attack is related to Iran’s escalating intimidation and harassment, including a plot to assassinate journalists Fardad Farahzadeh and Seema Sabet in 2022,” Stanisstreet said. Too early.”
“However, this brutal stabbing will inevitably cause concern among many journalists targeting Iran International and BBC Persian who fear they are not safe at home or at work.”
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