TV journalist stabbed outside London home

News Express |30th Mar 2024 | 213
TV journalist stabbed outside London home

Iranian journalist, Pouria Zeraati was stabbed in his London home, UK




A United Kingdom-based journalist for independent Iranian media who was attacked outside his London home, prompting a counter-terrorism police probe, is doing very well, his news channel said on Saturday.

Pouria Zeraati, a presenter for Persian-language outlet Iran International was in stable condition, the channels spokesman Adam Baillie said.

Hes doing very well actually. Hes in the hospital recovering from the attack, Baillie told BBC radio, calling Fridays attack a shocking, shocking incident whatever the outcome of (the) investigation reveals.

Londons Metropolitan Police has said its counter-terrorism unit is investigating the stabbing, given previous hostile threats by Iran against perceived opponents in Britain.

The force said the motive was unclear and officers were keeping an open mind, but that the victims occupation as a journalist at a Persian-language media organisation based in the UK was being considered.

Zeraati, in his 30s, sustained injuries to his leg in the mid-afternoon attack outside his home in Wimbledon, southwest London.

Announcing the incident on social media, Iran International noted it came after Tehran was implicated in a plot to kill two of its television anchors in 2022.

Baillie said the channels journalists and their families and others had been repeatedly targeted and threatened by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Along with our colleagues at BBC Persian, Iran International has been under threat, very heavy threats, for the last 18 months since the IRGC said ˜Were coming for you, he added

Baillie said the paramilitary security force gets in touch through proxies and its tactics include taking in relatives for questioning and threatening in Iran.

The scale of that has increased dramatically over the last few months. And the scale and the type of questioning is more aggressive, he added.

The Met has disrupted what it has called plots in the UK to kidnap or even kill British or Britain-based individuals perceived as enemies of Tehran.

An Austrian national was convicted last December of spying for a group that may have been preparing to attack Iran International.

The Iranian government has declared the outlet a terrorist organisation after it reported on protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

She died in 2022 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republics strict dress code for women.

The UK government last year unveiled a tougher sanctions regime against Iran over alleged human rights violations and hostile actions against its opponents on UK soil. (AFP)




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