On a winter night in December 2024, a short video made on a London street reached a phone that would later become evidence in a courtroom. Three men now stand accused of gathering surveillance on exiled journalists for Iranian intelligence, a charge that reaches into the old and uneasy territory where a state's reach crosses borders to silence those who report on it. They deny the allegations, and the question before the jury at Woolwich is less about a single frame of film than about how much a man must know about the purpose of what he records before he becomes responsible for it.
CSIS Expects Iran-Linked Threats to Canada to Continue in 2026, Officials Tell Iran International
Alleged plot to carry out serious violence against Iran International journalists Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, who are named as targets in the prosecution's case.
Bored, he said, and out for a drive
Mark
Why does a late-night video of a street matter so much in this trial?
Mimi
Because it's the kind of evidence that can be read two ways. Prosecutors say the camera fixed on a house linked to Kambiz Hosseini. Noori says they were bored and driving around.
Luke
And to be clear, those are competing accounts. The prosecution has alleged reconnaissance; nothing has been proven, and all three defendants deny the charges.
Mark
What else does the Crown rely on?
Mimi
Photographs, messages, and phone and vehicle location data, including repeated visits to the Malthouse Court area, linked to Mojtaba Pourmohsen.
Luke
Location data shows presence, not purpose. The Crown has to connect it to knowledge of a plot.
Mark
What is Noori's explanation?
Mimi
He says Sepahvand asked him to film and he thought it might be about Sepahvand's business. He says he never suspected violence.
Luke
We also don't have his answer on why he didn't explain the recordings in police interviews. The reporting cuts off before that.
Mark
How does the Canadian warning fit in?
Mimi
CSIS told Iran International that it has disrupted potentially lethal Iran-linked threats in Canada and expects more in 2026.
Luke
That's a separate matter. It shows a pattern of concern, but it isn't evidence about these three men.
Il Polso
- Surveillance footage of a London street tied to an Iran International journalist sits at the center of a case alleging a planned attack on exiled reporters.
- Prosecutors describe a trusted surveillance team, repeated location visits and hours of recordings that they say confirm reconnaissance.
- Defendant Noori insists he filmed only at a friend's request, believing the work was tied to business, and never suspected violence.
- The defense and prosecution now contest what a man should have understood, with the jury deciding whether the evidence proves intent to a criminal standard.
- The verdict will signal how British courts handle Iran-directed threats against media, a danger officials elsewhere expect to persist well into 2026.
On a winter night in December 2024, a short video made on a London street reached a phone that would later become evidence in a courtroom. Three men now stand accused of gathering surveillance on exiled journalists for Iranian intelligence, a charge that reaches into the old and uneasy territory where a state's reach crosses borders to silence those who report on it. They deny the allegations, and the question before the jury at Woolwich is less about a single frame of film than about how much a man must know about the purpose of what he records before he becomes responsible for it.
At 11:56 p.m. on December 12, 2024, a short video was sent to Mostafa Sepahvand's WhatsApp. It had been filmed on St Dunstan's Avenue in London, an address linked to Kambiz Hosseini, a journalist at Iran International. Nearly two years later, at Woolwich Crown Court, the man who says he shot it is being asked why.
Prosecutors allege that Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, knowingly helped Sepahvand, 41, target Hosseini and fellow journalist Mojtaba Pourmohsen. The Crown says the three gathered information for Iranian intelligence in preparation for serious violence, with Sepahvand expected to carry out an attack. All three deny the charges under Britain's National Security Act.
Noori told the court he took photos and videos at Sepahvand's request without understanding their purpose. On the December video, he said the two men had simply gone for a drive, and that he was asked to film near a park, send the clip and delete it. The prosecutor countered that the camera lingered on one house rather than sweeping the area.
The case also turns on location data showing repeated visits to an area linked to Pourmohsen, and on four videos recorded over more than three hours in Kingston upon Thames in March 2025. Noori denies suspecting violence. Whether the jury believes that he was a willing participant or an unwitting one will shape how the case is remembered.
At 11:56 p.m. on December 12, 2024, a short video arrived on Mostafa Sepahvand's WhatsApp. It had been filmed on St Dunstan's Avenue in London, an address linked to Iran International journalist Kambiz Hosseini. Nearly two years later, at Woolwich Crown Court, the man who says he shot it was being asked why.
Prosecutors allege that Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, knowingly helped Sepahvand, 41, target two Iran International journalists, Hosseini and Mojtaba Pourmohsen. The Crown's case is that the three gathered information for Iranian intelligence in preparation for serious violence against at least one target, with Sepahvand expected to carry out an attack. All three deny the charges, brought under Britain's National Security Act.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones described Noori as a trusted member of Sepahvand's surveillance team and pointed to photographs, messages and mobile phone location data. Noori told the court he never knowingly took part in a plot. He said he took photos and videos at Sepahvand's request without understanding their purpose.
On the December 2024 video, Noori acknowledged filming it but said the two men had simply gone for a drive because they were bored. He said Sepahvand asked him to film near a park, send the recording and delete it. Jones put it to him that the camera lingered on one particular house rather than sweeping the area at random.
The prosecutor also cited phone and vehicle location data that he said showed repeated visits to the Malthouse Court area, linked to Pourmohsen, and argued the movements formed part of coordinated surveillance. Noori said he did not know what the locations signified and thought the recordings might relate to Sepahvand's business activities.
Jones turned next to March 4, 2025, when four videos were recorded over more than three hours in Kingston upon Thames, near premises associated with a business called Need a Fixer. He cited messages discussing recordings at hourly intervals, which he said served to confirm Sepahvand's presence at the location, and suggested Noori knowingly joined reconnaissance meant to identify and ultimately attack targets. Noori denied it, saying he had never suspected Sepahvand of planning violence.
Jones also questioned why Noori had not described Sepahvand as a friend or explained the recordings in his police interviews after his arrest. The source text breaks off there, so his answer is not available here.
The trial sits alongside wider warnings. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has told Iran International that its work against Iranian intelligence services and their proxies has, in more than one case, involved detecting, investigating and disrupting potentially lethal threats on Canadian soil, and officials expect such threats to continue in 2026. The jury's verdict in London will show how a British court weighs the evidence that Iranian-directed surveillance of exiled journalists can be proved to a criminal standard.
Citazioni salienti
He took photographs and videos at Sepahvand's request without understanding their purpose.— Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, defendant (paraphrased)
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