A Chechen-born man has been found guilty of spying on a London-based dissident Iranian TV station to help terror plotters.
Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, 31, was accused of conducting surveillanceon the west London headquarters of IranInternational as part of a plan by others to carry out a terror attack.
He was found guilty of one charge of attempting to collect information useful for terrorism.
Prosecutors said Dovtaev, an Austrian citizen, originally from Chechnya, covertly filmed material on his phone in order to “identify vulnerabilities” in the media company’s security which could be exploited by others.
Image: Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev pictured on CCTV
Image: Dovtaev denied the charge against him
Prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer KC said the Persian-language TV channel and its employees had become targets for violent reprisals over its reporting of protests in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022 following her detention by the country’s morality police over headscarf rules.
The court heard the TV station had been critical of the Iranian government for years and publicly accused it of human rights violations.
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Dovtaev did not react in the dock when the unanimous verdict was delivered.
He has been remanded into custody and will be sentenced on Friday.
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‘We will not be cowed by threats’
After the decision, Iran International spokesman Adam Baillie said its journalists would not be “cowed by threats”.
He said: “This trial was a reminder of the threats journalists and news organisations face. Journalism is under attack across the world from those who seek to suppress media freedom.
“We will not be cowed by threats. Our journalists will continue to provide the independent, uncensored news the people of Iran deserve.”
Met commander Dominic Murphy said counter-terrorism police were “very alive” to the threat posed by Iran to potential targets on British soil.
The head of the Met’s SO15 Counter-terrorism Command said: “For a considerable amount of time, we’ve been worried about threats projected into the UK from Iran.
“At this time, we don’t know why Dovtaev was conducting this activity except to say that we believe very strongly that it was for terrorism.”
He confirmed Iran International was still broadcasting from London but in a different location.
Iranhas declared the TV station to be a terrorist organisation.
Image: Iran International TV west London studio. Pic: Iran International TV
Dovtaev denied the charge, telling the court he was “set up” by an unknown contact.
He told the jury he didn’t know why he had been sent to Chiswick Business Park – then home to Iran International’s headquarters – and that he felt he had been tricked by his contact, whose identity he did not know.
Giving evidence in his defence, Dovtaev admitted that he had taken a video on his phone in the middle of the business park.
He told the court: “You have got these buildings and in the middle of it you have got the lake and I was in wonder of such architecture, I quite simply liked it.”
He travelled directly to the headquarters where he was observed walking “nonchalantly” past the building.
Subsequent examination of his phone suggested that he was recording the security arrangements as he walked by.
He was approached by security who realised he was speaking on his Apple Airpod earphones and insulting them in Russian.
They directed him to a coffee shop where armed police arrested him as he sat at a table.
Image: Dovtaev was directed to a coffee shop
Image: Then he was arrested by counter-terrorism police officers
His visit was said to be the most recent in a series of at least three such visits by “others unknown”, who had also taken videos, beginning in the summer of 2022.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will “pause” shipments to the US as the British car firm works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The US president has introduced a 25% levy on all foreign cars imported into the country, which came into force on Thursday.
JLR, one of the country’s biggest carmakers, exported about 38,000 cars to the US in the third quarter of 2024 – almost equal to the amount sold to the UK and the EU combined.
In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the company behind the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover brands said: “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.
“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”
The company released a statement last week before Mr Trump announced a “baseline” 10% tariff on goods from around the world, which kicked in on Saturday morning, on what he called “liberation day”.
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JLR reassured customers its business was “resilient” and “accustomed to changing market conditions”.
“Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms,” the firm said.
Trading across the world has been hit by Mr Trump’s tariff announcement at the White House on Wednesday.
All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday – with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.
Cars are the top product exported from the UK to the US, with exports worth £8.3bn in the year to the end of September 2024, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
For UK carmakers, the US is the second largest export market behind the European Union.
Industry groups have previously warned the tariffs will force firms to rethink where they trade, while a report by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research said more than 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK could be at risk.
Two people have died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness, Lincolnshire Police have said.
In a statement, officers said they were called at 3.53am on Saturday to a report of a blaze at Golden Beach Holiday Park in the village of Ingoldmells.
Fire and rescue crews attended the scene, and two people were found to have died.
They were reported to be a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.
The force said the victims’ next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specially trained officers.
Officers are trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze.
“We are at the very early stages of our investigation and as such we are keeping an open mind,” the force said.
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
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Image: Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.