The London Police reported that the Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati, from the Iran International media outlet, critical of the Iranian Government, is stable, after the stabbing he experienced on Friday, March 29 in Wimbledon, in the British capital. Anti-terror police said they were leading the case, amid fears it was linked to Zeraati's work.
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The Iranian presenter Pouria Zeraati, 36, is recovering in a London hospital, after the attack he suffered on Friday afternoon, March 29, outside his home in the Wimbledon neighborhood, in which he was wounded in the leg. Zeraati is one of the presenters of the Iranian media Iran International, critical of the Government of the Persian country.
On Friday, the London Metropolitan Police reported that they had received a call at 2:49 p.m. local time, alerting them to the attack, in which they reported that a group was attacking the communicator, but there are still no arrests in this regard.
The journalist published a photo on his X account as a sign of improvement.
The National Union of Journalists of the United Kingdom (NUJ) regretted the events.
“This cowardly attack on Pouria is deeply shocking and our thoughts are with him, his family and all his colleagues at Iran International,” Michelle Stanistreet, the union's general secretary, said in a statement.
Anti-terrorist police investigate the case
British authorities have sent counter-terrorism detectives to take charge of the case, amid fears that there were political motivations behind it. In January, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Iranian officials, accused of being part of an alleged plot to assassinate Iranian journalists Fardad Farahzad and Sima Sabet of Iran International.
The officials sanctioned then were members of Iran's National Guard – an elite security body intended to protect the political system in Iran – who are accused of being involved in the plan to kill Farahzad and Sabet.
#BREAKING Iran International's journalist @pouriazeraati he has been attacked with a knife outside his house in London. He has sustained injuries but is in a stable condition. The matter is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.
The attack comes after the Iranian regime's… pic.twitter.com/gLAeeqvyKT— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) March 29, 2024
“While we remain open-minded, given the victim's occupation and our publicized concerns about the threat to employees of that organization, the investigation is being led by the Counter-Terrorism Command,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of that unit. Murphy added that they are considering several hypotheses at the moment.
A spokesman for Iran International, Adam Baillie, said threats from members of the Revolutionary Guard have increased in recent years and suggested that the fact that the case is being investigated by anti-terrorist forces “speaks for itself.”
Threats to Iranian opponents in the United Kingdom
According to the Reuters news agency, the country's Police have documented at least 15 threats to assassinate or kidnap dissidents or political opponents of the Iranian Government in the last two years.
“It is too early to know whether this violent attack is related to the escalation of intimidation and harassment by Iran, including the plot to assassinate journalists Fardad Farahzad and Sima Sabet (…). However, this brutal stabbing inevitably will raise fears among the many journalists attacked at Iran International and the BBC Persian service that they are not safe,” said Michelle Stanistreet.
Iran International is a Farsi-speaking channel watched by millions of people both in Iran and around the world, founded in 2017. In February 2023, it moved its operations to Washington, United States, amid growing allegations of threats from the state. Iranian, although at the end of last year he returned to be based in the British capital.
Iran accuses Saudi Arabia, a country with which it competes for influence in the Middle East, of financing the media critical of Tehran's political elite and which took on special relevance after the death of the young Mahsa Amini in 2022, after which it was unleashed the largest wave of protests against the Iranian Government in recent decades.
With Reuters and EFE
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