Two Romanians jailed for stabbing Iranian journalist in London

Judge says evidence indicates attack on Pouria Zeraati outside home was carried out on behalf of Tehran regime

Two Romanians who took part in a “targeted” knife attack on a television journalist in London “on behalf of the Iranian state” have been jailed.

Pouria Zeraati, who worked for the Persian-language channel Iran International, which is critical of the Tehran regime, was left bleeding in the street after being stabbed three times outside his home in Wimbledon.

Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, were convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

At the Old Bailey on Friday, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said the “evidence overwhelmingly points” to the attack being carried out on behalf of the Iranian regime.

Stana, who the judge said “ought to have known” that the “targeted and serious” attack was on behalf of Iran, was jailed for 12 years. Badea was given eight years.

Cheema-Grubb said: “I am sure that this was an attack carried out for and for the benefit of a foreign power. Pouria Zeraati was a well-known critic of the regime and he had previously been subjected to threats, as had members of his family.”

Zeraati was stabbed three times in the thigh on 29 March 2024 in what prosecutors described as “a planned attack preceded by reconnaissance, and which was ordered by a third party acting on behalf of the Iranian state”.

Badea and another man called David Andrei, who is still in Romania and was not on trial, “crowded” the victim and one of them stabbed him multiple times in the thigh.

Stana waited in a Mazda getaway car, which was spotted on CCTV footage during “hostile reconnaissance” carried out before the attack.

Zeraati told the Metropolitan police in a victim impact statement that the incident had left him “scared and anxious” and he had to relocate abroad “for fear of any reprisals”.

Badea and Andrei went to his property eight times across five dates and had flown into the country “expressly” for the attack, the prosecution said. They said they believed the stabbing had been planned for over a year before it took place.

The court heard that London-based Iran International was critical of the Iranian regime and had been designated as a terrorist organisation by the state.

Zeraati was a high-profile face on the channel, and a billboard of his face had been seen in the Iranian capital with a “Wanted: Dead or Alive” message.

Jurors were told the attackers were seen laughing as they fled the scene, heading to Heathrow and flying to Geneva.

Stana was described by his barrister, Peter Caldwell KC, as “functionally illiterate” and “not aware of current affairs” so “could not have known” he was operating on behalf of Iran.

Caldwell added: “Mr Stana was useful to others for the conduct that they had intended but he himself did not know the use to which he was being put.”

Badea’s barrister, David Spens KC, argued that the court “cannot be sure” it was his client who had stabbed Zeraati during the attack.

Ch Supt Kris Wright, head of protective security operations for Counter-Terrorism Policing London, said: “Our recent casework shows an increasing use of so-called ‘proxies’ by hostile foreign states to conduct illegal activity and attacks in the UK.

“But this case, and others, show that we will not tolerate this and that we will work with our partners in the UK and internationally to identify those involved and bring them to justice.”

The security minister Angela Eagle said: “These sentences send a clear message: anyone acting on behalf of a foreign state to commit crimes in the UK will be identified, pursued and punished.

“We take the threat from Iran extremely seriously, and we will continue to hold the regime to account.

“We are fast-tracking legislation to introduce new proscription-like powers to clamp down on state-linked organisations and those who act as their proxies carrying out exactly this sort of activity.”