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Two Romanians previously convicted of a knife attack on an Iranian journalist outside his London home “on behalf of” Iran were jailed on Friday for 12 and eight years respectively.
George Stana, 25, and Nandito Badea, 21, were found guilty last month of wounding with intent over the 2024 stabbing of Pouria Zeraati, a news presenter for Persian-language outlet Iran International.
The duo had denied the charge but were convicted by a jury after a trial.
Sentencing them at London’s Old Bailey court, judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said the evidence “overwhelmingly points” to the attack being carried out on behalf of the Iranian government.
“I am sure that this was an attack carried out for and for the benefit of a foreign power,” she added.
“Pouria Zeraati was a well-known critic of the regime and he had previously been subjected to threats, as had members of his family.”
Stana “ought to have known” that the “targeted and serious” attack was on Iran’s behalf, Cheema-Grubb said, as she jailed him for 12 years.
The judge handed Badea, who was involved in the conspiracy for less time, an eight-year prison term.
Responding to the sentences, security minister Angela Eagle said the “abhorrent attack” was “carried out on behalf of Iran before both men cowardly fled the country.”
“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.”
She added Britain takes the threat from Iran “extremely seriously,” vowing “we will continue to hold the regime to account.”
Zeraati needed emergency treatment after he was stabbed several times in the leg outside his home in Wimbledon, southwest London.
But he returned to work at the dissident broadcaster the following month, insisting that “the show must go on.”
Zeraati told police in a victim impact statement that the attack had left him “scared and anxious”, and he had to relocate abroad fearing further reprisals.
During the trial, prosecutors said Badea and another man had observed Zeraati’s property on eight occasions across five dates and had flown into the county “expressly” for the attack.
The duo were arrested in Romania in December 2024 and extradited to Britain, but the third man accused of taking part in the attack is still in Romania because he faces separate charges there, police have said.
Iran International, a private broadcaster based in a heavily secured building in west London, was labelled a “terrorist” organisation by Tehran in 2022 along with the BBC’s Persian-language channel.
Additional sources • AFP