Two British-Iranian journalists have told City News that most threats of attack and incidents are not reported to the police.
Many of the journalists receiving the threats don’t report them as they fear escalating hostilities with Iran or believe it won’t do anything to prevent attacks.
Two individuals living under threat in the UK, Ali Hamedani, a former presenter at the BBC, and another senior Iranian journalist, anonymised for their safety, agreed to speak to City News
In a City News documentary ‘Breaking Point: Life Under Threat’ the pair recount their personal experiences as their lives, families and freedom of speech in the UK come under attack.
In recent decades Iranian journalists have fled to London as a place of safety, where they could report on Iran without fear.
Since World War II Persian news outlets have operated from the UK, providing news not only to the global Persian diaspora but crucially to within Iran. This is now at risk as Iranian state sponsored threats against journalists in London increase.
In March, Pouria Zeraati, a presenter for the London-based channel Iran International, was leaving his home in Wimbledon.
He was walking towards his car when a man approached him asking for £3 cash.
Mr Zeraati was telling him that he didn’t have any money when he was grabbed by a second man.
The person asking for money then stabbed Pouria Zeraati in the side of his thigh. At first, he thought he had been robbed, although he quickly realised nothing had been taken.
It was at this point he realised that the attack may have been connected to his position as a journalist at Iran International.
The police have since said that they believe the attack was conducted by three eastern European mercenaries hired by the Iranian regime.
Officials at the Iranian Embassy in London deny the involvement of their government.
The attack against Pouria Zeraati has become the latest in a line of incidents on UK soil.
In 2023, Iran International had to move to Washington for a period of months after they were alerted to a terror plot by British security services.
The plot reportedly started as a plan to kill two presenters using bombs. And moved to a plot to stab them outside their homes.
Iran International have said that the plots formed part of a continued “heavy threat” that the station has been facing for the last 18 months.
The threat faced by those at Iran International exemplify the experiences of many Iranian journalists in the UK including Ali Hamedani and our anonymous source.
Ali Hamedani speaking to City News for the documentary Breaking Point: Life Under Threat. (Credit: James Tillotson)
They both had to leave Iran, as their position as journalists became too dangerous. They moved to London in order to be safe from threats and continue their reporting on the Iranian Regime and wider issues.
In 2012 Ali received a call from his mother in Tehran who told him that she “saw my face on a state newspaper being accused of raping my female colleagues and I saw myself on the news and the state television. It was horrifying, and that was only the beginning”
“We never thought the intimidations were going to continue and were going to expand to the UK.”
Ali was receiving threats from anonymous social media accounts at the time, but didn’t think that legitimate threats would be a risk in the UK.
That was the case, until one evening in a London restaurant where Ali was having dinner with a friend. He checked his phone and found a message.
“I have received a photo of myself and a friend of mine sitting outside of a cafe in one of the streets in London drinking coffee and somebody took that photo of us from far away and said you see we are following you.”
An image Ali Hamedani received from an anonymous social media account of him eating at a restaurant in London. (Credit: Ali Hamedani)
“But again we were seeing those messages as some sort of maybe nonstate backed intimidations and harassments talking basically, but that was also an illusion.”
It’s not only the journalists themselves that receive threats from the Iranian regime:
“Close family or friends in Iran might get called in and say ‘You know your relation to so and so, tell them to spy for us, tell them to stop working on what they’re doing. Tell them we’ve got our eyes on you and we can cause an accident, a traffic accident, anytime we want in London.'”
Who is carrying out the threats in the UK?
According to our sources, it’s unclear who is giving the orders from within Iran. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and a blend of intelligence services both compete and work together. It’s thought that most attacks are ordered from within these organisations.
Criminals, including those working for gangs, are then recruited to enact threats on the ground – be it stalking, or physical violence.
Ali Hamedani says that he believes the threats to be an attack on not only individuals, but on freedom of speech in Britain.
He closed his interview with City News by saying that
“The freedom that I was hoping for, the British values that I adore, the safety which is the minimum one could hope for don’t apply to any of us…I really hope one day it feels safe to be me.”
For the City News documentary The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran did not reply to a request for comment. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Metropolitan Police were not available for comment.
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HeadlineThreats against Iranian journalists and their families in the UK are going unreported
Short HeadlineAttack threats against Iranian journalists in UK going unreported
StandfirstJournalists are not reporting some incidents to the police for fear of escalation and a belief nothing will change.
Two British-Iranian journalists have told City News that most threats of attack and incidents are not reported to the police.
Many of the journalists receiving the threats don’t report them as they fear escalating hostilities with Iran or believe it won’t do anything to prevent attacks.
Two individuals living under threat in the UK, Ali Hamedani, a former presenter at the BBC, and another senior Iranian journalist, anonymised for their safety, agreed to speak to City News
In a City News documentary ‘Breaking Point: Life Under Threat’ the pair recount their personal experiences as their lives, families and freedom of speech in the UK come under attack.
In recent decades Iranian journalists have fled to London as a place of safety, where they could report on Iran without fear.
Since World War II Persian news outlets have operated from the UK, providing news not only to the global Persian diaspora but crucially to within Iran. This is now at risk as Iranian state sponsored threats against journalists in London increase.
In March, Pouria Zeraati, a presenter for the London-based channel Iran International, was leaving his home in Wimbledon.
He was walking towards his car when a man approached him asking for £3 cash.
Mr Zeraati was telling him that he didn’t have any money when he was grabbed by a second man.
The person asking for money then stabbed Pouria Zeraati in the side of his thigh. At first, he thought he had been robbed, although he quickly realised nothing had been taken.
It was at this point he realised that the attack may have been connected to his position as a journalist at Iran International.
The police have since said that they believe the attack was conducted by three eastern European mercenaries hired by the Iranian regime.
Officials at the Iranian Embassy in London deny the involvement of their government.
The attack against Pouria Zeraati has become the latest in a line of incidents on UK soil.
In 2023, Iran International had to move to Washington for a period of months after they were alerted to a terror plot by British security services.
The plot reportedly started as a plan to kill two presenters using bombs. And moved to a plot to stab them outside their homes.
Iran International have said that the plots formed part of a continued “heavy threat” that the station has been facing for the last 18 months.
The threat faced by those at Iran International exemplify the experiences of many Iranian journalists in the UK including Ali Hamedani and our anonymous source.
Ali Hamedani speaking to City News for the documentary Breaking Point: Life Under Threat. (Credit: James Tillotson)
They both had to leave Iran, as their position as journalists became too dangerous. They moved to London in order to be safe from threats and continue their reporting on the Iranian Regime and wider issues.
In 2012 Ali received a call from his mother in Tehran who told him that she “saw my face on a state newspaper being accused of raping my female colleagues and I saw myself on the news and the state television. It was horrifying, and that was only the beginning”
“We never thought the intimidations were going to continue and were going to expand to the UK.”
Ali was receiving threats from anonymous social media accounts at the time, but didn’t think that legitimate threats would be a risk in the UK.
That was the case, until one evening in a London restaurant where Ali was having dinner with a friend. He checked his phone and found a message.
“I have received a photo of myself and a friend of mine sitting outside of a cafe in one of the streets in London drinking coffee and somebody took that photo of us from far away and said you see we are following you.”
An image Ali Hamedani received from an anonymous social media account of him eating at a restaurant in London. (Credit: Ali Hamedani)
“But again we were seeing those messages as some sort of maybe nonstate backed intimidations and harassments talking basically, but that was also an illusion.”
It’s not only the journalists themselves that receive threats from the Iranian regime:
“Close family or friends in Iran might get called in and say ‘You know your relation to so and so, tell them to spy for us, tell them to stop working on what they’re doing. Tell them we’ve got our eyes on you and we can cause an accident, a traffic accident, anytime we want in London.'”
Who is carrying out the threats in the UK?
According to our sources, it’s unclear who is giving the orders from within Iran. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and a blend of intelligence services both compete and work together. It’s thought that most attacks are ordered from within these organisations.
Criminals, including those working for gangs, are then recruited to enact threats on the ground – be it stalking, or physical violence.
Ali Hamedani says that he believes the threats to be an attack on not only individuals, but on freedom of speech in Britain.
He closed his interview with City News by saying that
“The freedom that I was hoping for, the British values that I adore, the safety which is the minimum one could hope for don’t apply to any of us…I really hope one day it feels safe to be me.”
For the City News documentary The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran did not reply to a request for comment. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Metropolitan Police were not available for comment.
