Two men have been found guilty of a targeted knife attack on Pouria Zeraati, an Iranian journalist working for Iran International, outside his home in west London in 2024. The assault was carried out on behalf of the Iranian regime, prosecutors told Woolwich Crown Court.
Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, were convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The Romanians, who denied the charges, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 3 July. A third man, David Andrei, was arrested in Romania but not tried.
Zeraati, a British journalist of Iranian origin, was stabbed three times in the thigh as he walked to his home in Wimbledon. Prosecutors said the attack was a “planned attack preceded by reconnaissance which was ordered by a third party acting on behalf of the Iranian state”. The court saw posters in Tehran featuring Zeraati with the words “Wanted: dead or alive”.
Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, said Badea wielded the knife, Andrei was also involved, and Stana waited in a getaway car. The group carried out extensive surveillance before the attack. The attackers were seen laughing as they fled. The head of Iran's diplomatic mission in the UK has denied any link.
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter-terrorism division, said the case was “a deliberate, targeted attack on a journalist, carried out after months of planning and surveillance” designed to “silence a journalist through intimidation and violence”.
