Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, were found guilty of wounding with intent over the stabbing of Pouria Zeraati, a news presenter for Persian-language outlet Iran International [GETTY]
Two Romanians were convicted on Friday over the stabbing of an Iranian journalist outside his home in London in a 2024 attack that prosecutors linked to Tehran.
Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, were found guilty of wounding with intent over the stabbing of Pouria Zeraati, a news presenter for Persian-language outlet Iran International.
The attack was “designed to silence a journalist through intimidation and violence”, the British prosecution service’s anti-terrorism chief Frank Ferguson said after the verdict at Woolwich Crown Court.
Prosecutors argued during the trial that the attack was a proxy operation linked to the Iranian state and the victim was targeted because of his work as a journalist.
The pair will be sentenced on 3 July, when the judge could comment on the possible role of Iran in the attack.
Zeraati needed emergency treatment after he was stabbed several times in the leg outside his home in Wimbledon, southwest London.
But he returned to work at the dissident broadcaster the following month, insisting that “the show must go on”.
The defendants waited for Zeraati and “acted together to restrain and stab him before making an immediate and organised escape from the UK”, said Ferguson.
The men were arrested in Romania in December 2024 and extradited to Britain, but a third man accused of taking part in the attack is still in Romania because he faces separate charges there, police said.
Iran International, a private broadcaster based in a heavily secured building in west London, was labelled a “terrorist” organisation by Tehran in 2022, along with the BBC’s Persian-language channel.
Last month, a Greek man was charged with spying on a journalist at Iran International.
In April, three people appeared in a London court charged with an attempted arson attack on its offices.
