Two Romanian men jailed for 2024 stabbing of dissident Iranian journalist in London |
LONDON (AP) — Two Romanian men were sentenced in London on Friday to eight and 12 years in prison over the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station, an attack the judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.
Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based news channel Iran International, was stabbed in the leg in March 2024 outside his home in the Wimbledon area of London.
Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, were found guilty by a jury last month of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said the “evidence overwhelmingly points” to the attack being carried out on behalf of the Iranian authorities.
“I am sure that this was an attack carried out for and for the benefit of a foreign power,” she said during a sentencing hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court.
UK security officials claim Iran is behind a growing number of plots on British soil in which criminal proxies have targeted opposition media outlets and Britain’s Jewish community.
A London court on Friday sentenced Romanian nationals George Stana and Nandito Badea to a combined 20 years in prison for stabbing Iran International journalist Pouria Zeraati outside his Wimbledon home in March 2024. Stana and Badea, who received 12 years and eight years in… pic.twitter.com/nMpvZSHqAW Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#Article_Incontent1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: 'Article_Incontent1', baseDivId:........