LONDON (AP) — Two Romanian men were convicted Friday in a London court over the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station, an attack prosecutors say was carried out at the behest of authorities in Tehran.A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Iran International, was stabbed in the leg in March 2024 outside his home in the Wimbledon area of London. He recovered from the attack and returned to work.Police said former professional soccer player Badea and another man attacked Zeraati before fleeing in a getaway car driven by Stana and then flying out of the country from Heathrow Airport. Badea and Stana were arrested in Romania in December 2024 and extradited to the U.K. The third suspect, David Andrei, is the subject of criminal proceedings in Romania.
“This was a targeted and violent attack and it was the prosecution’s case during the trial that it was carried out on behalf of the Iranian regime,” said Chief Superintendent Kris Wright of Counter Terrorism Policing London.
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The jury’s verdict does not conclude that the attack was conducted on behalf of Iran, though prosecutors said the judge may determine that when the defendants are sentenced on July 3.Iran’s senior diplomat in the U.K. has denied Tehran was behind the attack.
