A 31-year-old Austrian citizen has been found guilty of spying on a London-based television channel critical of the Iranian government.
The Old Bailey heard on Wednesday that the Chechnya-born Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev attempted to collect information for terrorist purposes.
A unanimous verdict was delivered by the jury after hours of deliberation.
The prosecution in Dovtaev’s case argued that he visited Iran International on Feb. 11 to carry out “hostile reconnaissance.”
Prosecutor Nicholas de la Poer, KC told the jury Dovtaev’s case was the latest in a series of suspicious visits by “others unknown” to identify security chinks that could be exploited for an attack.
The Iran International channel has been branded a terrorist organisation by the regime in Tehran after it covered massive protests in several Iranian cities in September 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was detained by the morality police for not wearing a veil.
Speaking after the verdict was announced, the channel’s spokesman Adam Baillie said that the journalists at Iran International would not be “cowed by threats.”
Chilling Actions
Commenting on the case, the head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command Dominic Murphy said in a statement that Dovtaev’s actions were “chilling” and highlighted concerns about “threats emanating from Iran” directed towards certain individuals and media organisations in Britain.“Dovtaev never said who he was working for or with and we could find no further evidence of this, but we did find enough evidence to show the jury that he was there to carry out terrorist-related activity,” Mr. Murphy added.
Since the incident, Iran International has moved from its site in Chiswick Business Park, west London.
“I’m pleased to say the company are still broadcasting from London, but just in a different location now,” Mr. Murphy said.
Dovtaev was charged withing 48 hours of his arrest. Prior to that, he was found to arrive at Gatwick Airport from Vienna and travel to Chiswick Business Park in a cab.
He was seen walking around the building and CCTV footage later showed him filming a video using his phone.
Detectives found that Dovtaev had conducted research before coming to the UK and visiting the TV channel’s office. Authorities also found a number of videos made at the same location and shared with Dovtaev via an encrypted messaging app.
Dovtaev was charged on Feb. 13 with collecting information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
He had denied being involved with any terrorist organisation. He told the police in a statement that the video on his phone was taken for his “three children as there was a lake there.”
The prosecution said that Dovtaev going to “collect information shows that planning by others” to conduct “violent reprisals” was “already under way.”
Dovtaev told the court that he had been “set up” and claimed he didn’t know why he was sent to the office. He added that he took an interest in the building because he “quite simply liked it” and was “in wonder at the architecture.”
Dovtaev said he had been sent to the UK to do something he “didn’t understand” and that he had “no reason” to help the Iranian government to attack its enemies in England.
The Austrian national will be sentenced on Dec. 22.
