Two Iranian men were convicted by a London court of spying on journalists and a lawyer for Iran's intelligence service.

What it means

A UK jury has convicted two Iranian men, Mostafa Sepahvand and Farhad Javadi Manesh, of spying on dissident journalists based in London, including staff of the Persian broadcaster Iran International. The men were found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service (Iran) after a six-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court, with prosecutors alleging they were part of an Iranian state effort to surveil and potentially 'eliminate' critics abroad.

Accuracy & sourcesSourced

The claim is solid, based on multiple reputable secondary sources (The Guardian, BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Sky News) all reporting the same verdict from the same trial, plus a primary-source statement from the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The reporting sits close to the primary source (the CPS announcement and the court verdict), and the details (names, charges, court, date) are consistent across outlets.

How new

Genuinely new: the verdict was delivered on 12 November 2026 and reported within hours.

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