London stabbing of journalist was by men working for Iran, court told

Iranian journalist stabbed in UK by men working for Iran, court told Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleDaniel SandfordUK correspondentReutersNandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, as sketched at Woolwich Crown CourtA journalist working for a Persian-language opposition television station was attacked with a knife in Wimbledon by men working for Iran as part of a campaign of "Iranian terror", a court was told.Posters of Pouria Zeraati, a journalist for the London-based Iran International, had been put up in the Iranian capital Tehran with the words "Wanted: dead or alive".Two Romanian men - George Stana, 25, and Nandito Badea, 21 - are on trial at Woolwich Crown Court, accused of attacking Zeraati in late March 2024, leaving him in hospital with three stab wounds in his leg.Stana and Badea have both denied charges of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and unlawful wounding.Badea is alleged to have wielded a knife in the attack, while Stana is said to have driven the Mazda used as a getaway car. A third Romanian man, David Andrei, who is accused of holding Zeraati during the attack, is not on trial and is still in Romania.Duncan Atkinson KC for the prosecution told the jury: "This was not a random assault, or a form of robbery. Rather it was a planned and targeted attack.""A planned attack preceded by reconnaissance, and which was ordered by a third party acting on behalf of the Iranian state," he said. Atkinson said that since 2005 "the Islamic Republic has turned less to its own operatives and increasingly to use proxies such as criminal gangs to meet their threatened violence on their behalf". He said people in the UK had "become targets of Iranian intimidation and, effectively, of Iranian terror".He said that in November 2022 posters had been put up in the Iranian capital Tehran which included a picture of Zeraati, under the heading "Wanted: dead or alive".@pouriazeraati...