An Austrian citizen who was spotted filming the outside of a London-based television channel critical of the Iranian government may have been acting on behalf of a group “preparing to attack,” a jury at the Old Bailey has been told.
Magomed-Husein Dovtaev, 31, denies collecting information for a person likely preparing an act of terrorism.
He went on trial on Monday and prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer, KC, told the jury Mr. Dovtaev’s visit to Iran International on Feb. 11 this year was just the latest in a series of suspicious visits by “others unknown.”
Mr. De La Poer said: “The prosecution’s case is that he was not there to meet a friend or to look at the scenery. The prosecution’s case is that he was carrying out hostile reconnaissance.”
“He had travelled to the UK in order that any vulnerabilities could be identified and exploited,” he added.
‘Targets for Violent Reprisals’
Mr. De La Poer said, “The prosecution’s case is that as a result of the Iranian authorities’ attitude toward Iran International, the organisation and its employees all became targets for violent reprisals.”
“As such, the security at their place of work was of very real and practical interest to those who might wish to carry out such reprisals,” he added.
Mr. Dovtaev flew from Vienna to Gatwick and then travelled to the Chiswick Business Park in west London, which was at the time the home of Iran International’s London bureau.
He was there to gather “hostile reconnaissance” on the TV studio, whose journalists reported on human rights violations in Iran, said the prosecutor.
Mr. Dovtaev, who is of Chechen origin, sought to “identify and exploit” vulnerabilities in the security of the company’s premises, it was claimed.
He told security guards who challenged him he was visiting the area to meet a friend, but he was later arrested by counter-terrorism police after he was seen filming the building on his smartphone.
Mr. De La Poer said, “It is the prosecution’s case that the defendant, no doubt acting on the instructions of others, went to the Chiswick Business Park for the purpose of gathering information about the security arrangements around Iran International.”
“Such information would be useful to anyone preparing to attack. The very fact that the defendant went to collect this information shows that planning by others was already underway,” he added.
“As we shall come to see, there is other evidence as well which demonstrates that the defendant’s visit was the most recent in a sequence of such visits by others unknown,” added Mr. De La Poer.
The trial is set to last for a week.
