Iran International spokesperson Adam Baillie has said there were “heavy threats” made towards journalists working for the London-based station in the past 18 months. His remarks came following the stabbing of Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at the broadcaster. Zeraati, who is 36 years old, is recovering in hospital following the attack outside his home in Wimbledon, south-west London. Iran has denied any role and the Metropolitan Police have launched an investigation led by counter-terrorism officers.
Iran International is a news channel that provides independent coverage of events in Iran, but the Tehran regime has labelled it a terrorist organisation. Baillie told Radio 4’s Today programme that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had targeted Iran International journalists and their families. “No one’s going to call up from the IRGC and go ‘hey, it’s us’, but families have been taken in for questioning and threatened,” he said. Baillie added that there had been an escalation in threats and questioning over the past few months.
Although Baillie said it was unclear what lay behind the attack, he observed that the fact the incident was being investigated by counter-terrorism officers “probably speaks for itself”. Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, an Austrian national born in Chechnya, was jailed for three and a half years last December for spying on Iran International and planning an attack in the UK. In January, the UK announced sanctions against several members of a unit within the IRGC. ITV news had published an investigation into plots to assassinate two Iran International presenters in the UK.
Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command unit, said that whilst officers were “keeping an open mind with regard to any motive”, extra patrols were being deployed in affected areas as a precaution. Reacting to the incident, Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said that Iran was “continuing to hunt down those brave enough to speak out against the regime”. She argued that the UK and its allies had yet to develop clear strategies for protecting people at home and abroad
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