Two men charged over attack on British-Iranian journalist

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LONDON (Reuters) -British prosecutors said on Thursday they had authorised charges to be brought against two Romanian men over the stabbing of a journalist working for a Persian language media organisation in London in March.

Pouria Zeraati, a British-Iranian journalist who works for Iran International, sustained leg injuries after being stabbed near his home in Wimbledon, southwest London.

Counter-terrorism police have led the investigation into the attack over concerns he had been targeted because of his job at the Persian language television news network, which is critical of Iran’s government.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Nandito Badea, 19, and George Stana, 23, had been arrested in Romania on Wednesday and charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and wounding.

“They have both now appeared in a Romanian court for the start of extradition proceedings,” a CPS spokesperson said. “We continue to work closely with Romanian authorities, to ensure that our extradition request is progressed through the courts.”

British police, security officials and politicians have issued a number of warnings about what they say is Iran’s growing use of criminal proxies to carry out attacks abroad.

In December last year, an Austrian man was convicted in Britain of collecting information that could be used in an attack after he was accused of carrying out “hostile reconnaissance” on Iran International’s London headquarters.

The following month, Britain imposed sanctions on Iranian officials it said were involved in threats to kill journalists on British soil.

The UK’s domestic spy chief, Ken McCallum, said in October that since January 2022 his MI5 service and the police had responded to 20 Iranian-backed plots, which potentially posed lethal threats to UK citizens and residents.

Iran rejected those accusations and accused Britain of hosting what it called terrorist groups.

“We’re happy for Pouria, who suffered the attack,” said Adam Baillie, a spokesperson for Iran International. “And we’re delighted that the UK police investigation into the attack has progressed to this stage. It is reassuring for our journalists, as for others in organisations under similar threat.”

(Reporting by Michael Holden, Muvija M and Cassell Bryan-Low, Editing by William James and Frances Kerry)