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by Mick the Ram
Iranian TV presenter Pouria Zeraati, who was repeatedly stabbed in an attack outside his home in Wimbledon, south London, on Good Friday, has thankfully made a good enough recovery to enable him to be discharged from hospital.
The 36-year-old, who reports for the London-based Iran International News channel, was able to check out having been “very fortunate” to escape serious damage in the shocking assault.
He paid tribute to those who have cared for him and also thanked well-wishers for their “sympathy, kindness and love in the past few days”.
He confirmed that in company with his wife, they were now “residing at a safe place, under the supervision of the Met Police.”
His employers said it had faced “heavy threats” for the past 18 months after continuing to provide independent coverage of events in Iran, including the 2022 anti-government protests.
Iran’s minister of intelligence, Ismail Khatib, in Tehran, has already declared the TV channel to be a “terrorist organisation”.
That regime have so far denied their involvement in this incident and Counter-terrorism officers are leading an investigation into the case.
The Met Police said that at this stage no arrests have been made.
TV channel under increasing threat
Whilst it was a relief to see photographs posted by Mr Zeraati on X – formerly Twitter, showing him making a peace or V for victory sign from his hospital bed, and subsequently to learn of his discharge, the threats remain and everyone at the TV station are on high alert.
The Persian-language Iran International resumed its operations in London only last September after temporarily moving its broadcasting studios to Washington DC in the previous February. This was as a result of a “significant escalation in state-backed threats coming from Iran”.
Spokesperson confirms victim making good recovery
Adam Baillie, a spokesperson for the TV news channel, explained that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had been targeting journalists and their families for some time, but noted that this was the first attack of its kind to actually succeed.
He called it a “shocking incident and hugely frightening, whatever the outcome of any investigation reveals”.
He did clarify that as far as he was aware, Mr Zeraati was “doing very well” and making a good recovery.
Threats had been getting more aggressive
He went on to reveal that the IRGC never leave a paper trail, but he was aware that families had been taken in for questioning and threats had been issued. He made the point that the scale of those threats were increasing dramatically, particularly over the last few months.
He added worryingly that the warnings and tone of questioning had gotten significantly more aggressive.
Iran’s charge d’affaires in the UK, Mehdi Hosseini Matin, was very quick to deny any link to Mr Zeraati’s attack, distancing themselves from the incident.
More than a dozen plots foiled
The Met Police were unable to officially provide further information about any motive behind the attack, but admitted that Mr Zeraati’s occupation, coupled with recent threats towards UK-based Iranian journalists, meant the investigation was being led by specialist Counter-terrorism officers.
They released a statement last year which revealed that since the start of 2020, they had foiled 15 different plots to either kidnap, or kill UK-based individuals, perceived to be enemies of the Iranian regime.
Confirmation was also given that extra patrols had been posted to the area of the attack in south London, as well as other “specific sites around the capital”, as a precautionary measure.
Sanctions against regime
Back in January, the Foreign Office announced sanctions against members of the IRGC’s Unit 840, following a TV investigation into plans to assassinate two of the Iran International presenter team, on UK soil.
At the time, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron was quoted as saying that the “Iranian regime” and the “criminal gangs” who operate on its behalf posed an “unacceptable threat to the UK’s security”.
Previous “video” attacker jailed
In a separate case in December 2023, Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, a Chechen-born Austrian national, was jailed for three-and-a-half years for “attempting to collect or make a record containing information useful to a terrorist” before a “planned attack” on Iran International.
On his arrest the Met Police said he made a video showing the outside and security arrangements of a Chiswick Business Park building, where the targetted news channel was based.
Assassination attempt journalist urged to leave home
Another Iran International presenter and journalist, Sima Sabet, put a post out revealing that she too, had been urged by the Met to leave her home, following the attack on Mr Zeraati, aware that there had been an attempt made by the Revolutionary Guards to assassinate her and a colleague only last year.
Making the point that London was hers and her colleagues’ home, she praised the police response, but added that the UK government: “has not taken sufficient, meaningful, decisive and effective political action”, before highlighting that Britain “must be a safe place for journalists across all media.”
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