Iranian journalist stabbed in London by two Romanian nationals on Tehran's orders

Pouria Zeraati, a journalist with Iran International, was stabbed three times outside his home in Wimbledon in March 2024. Two Romanian nationals were found guilty on Friday at Woolwich Crown Court.

Two Romanians convicted for attack on Iranian journalist in London

Pouria Zeraati, a journalist with the opposition-aligned Iran International, was stabbed three times outside his home in Wimbledon, south-west London, on 29 March 2024, and left bleeding on the street. According to G4Media, citing the Daily Mail, the attack was ordered by a third party acting on behalf of the Iranian state.

On Friday, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court found Romanian nationals Nandito Badea, 21 years old, and George Stana, 25 years old, guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause serious injury. The two are to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 3 July.

Reconstruction of the attack

Badea, a former professional footballer who had played for Romanian teams including Astra and Blejoi, approached Zeraati as he headed towards his car and asked if he had any change. A third man, David Andrei, 22 years old, grabbed the journalist from behind, immobilising his arms. Badea, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the inscription "gangster" and was under the influence of drugs, produced a knife and stabbed him repeatedly in the leg before both men fled laughing.

Stana was waiting on a side street in a blue Mazda 3TS with the engine running. The three men left with the doors still open, drove to Cavendish Avenue in New Malden, abandoned the car, threw their clothes into a bin and used the Bolt app to call a taxi to Heathrow Airport. That same evening, they boarded a British Airways flight to Geneva, from where they returned to Bucharest.

Prosecutors described the attack as "premeditated", arguing that the men, brought in from Romania, had spent a month conducting surveillance activities prior to the assault.

Zeraati accuses British police of inaction

Zeraati, 38 years old, criticised the Metropolitan Police for failing to act following threats that he and his wife had reported as far back as 2022. The two had observed suspicious individuals around their home and received threats approximately two years before the attack.

Approximately one year before the assault, his wife, Oldouz Rezvani, spotted Stana standing in front of the house and reported the incident to police. Stana and an accomplice were stopped and arrested on 1 March 2023, but were later released. One of them had a cricket bat and a hockey stick in his possession, whilst the other was carrying scissors and £2,410 in cash.

Scotland Yard subsequently determined that the incident had been, most likely, the first example of "hostile reconnaissance" carried out by Stana — a conclusion that showed the journalist was already being targeted at that time. Zeraati described this oversight as "the most shocking part of the trial" and said he was "shocked" by the way police handled the 2023 situation.

"Will I still be alive in a few seconds?"

The journalist, who had appeared on "wanted — dead or alive" posters in Iran, recounted to ITV the state of terror in the moments of the attack: "I was thinking where he would stab me — in the throat? In the heart? In the kidneys? Will I still be alive in a few seconds or not? It is a moment you never want to experience."

Iran International, the outlet where Zeraati worked, has been designated by the Tehran regime as a terrorist organisation and labelled a "spy network".

Defence of the accused

Badea argued in court that Andrei had told him to approach Zeraati and ask him for money, but that he had acted on his own initiative. He stated that he did not know that an act of violence or an attempted robbery was going to take place. Stana claimed that the plan was only to approach the journalist, hit him lightly and take his watch, and that it was "a great surprise" when the two men he was driving told him that a stabbing had taken place.

Both denied the charges. David Andrei could not be extradited because he is involved in legal proceedings in Romania.

Source: G4Media