image source, @pouriazeraati
Zelati posted a photo on social media from his hospital bed
The stabbing of an Iranian TV news channel host followed “serious threats” against the London-based channel, a spokesperson said.
Iranian international presenter Puglia Zehrati, 36, was attacked by a group in front of her home in Wimbledon, south London.
On Saturday, he posted a photo smiling from his hospital bed where he is recovering.
Counterterrorism officials are leading the investigation, but the Iranian government denies involvement.
The London-based International Organization for Iran aims to provide independent reporting on events in the country, but the Tehran regime has declared it a terrorist organization.
Adam Bailey, the station’s spokesman, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that the station had been under “threat, severe threat” for 18 months.
He said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was targeting journalists and their families.
Mr Bailey said: ‘Over the last 18 months, since the Revolutionary Guards said, ‘We’re coming for you,’ along with our colleagues at BBC Persia, Iran International has been under very severe threat, and they are… I’ve done that consistently,” he said.
The Revolutionary Guards “communicate through agents. They leave no paper trail,” he said.
“No one from the Revolutionary Guards is going to call and say, ‘Hey, it’s us,’ but families are being taken in for questioning and being threatened,” Bailey said.
He added: “The scale has increased dramatically in recent months, and the scale and type of interrogations have become more aggressive, such as ‘tell your relatives to stop working for this channel.'” Ta.
He said the incident was “very frightening” but that Mr Zelati was doing “very well” and recovering.
Late Saturday, Mr. Zelati posted a photo of himself in the hospital on X (formerly Twitter) and made the peace or V sign for victory.
Mr Bailey was asked what he thought was behind the attack.
“I can’t say,” he said. “The fact that the counterterrorism division is leading the investigation speaks volumes.”
The Metropolitan Police said it had not yet established a motive for Friday’s attack, but given Mr Zelati’s profession and recent threats against an Iranian journalist based in the UK, the investigation would be led by counter-terrorism officers. He said it would happen.
Iran International presenter and former BBC World Service journalist Sima Sabet reported to X that police urged her to leave the house following the attack on Zelati.
She wrote that the Revolutionary Guards attempted to assassinate her and a colleague last year.
She said she was awaiting a police investigation, but added: “This attack is extremely troubling to all journalists and opponents of the Islamic Republic in the UK and other Western countries.”
He praised the police response but said the British government had “failed to take sufficient, meaningful, decisive and effective political action”.
He added: “London is our home and Britain must be a safe place for journalists from all media.”
At the time, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: “The Iranian regime and the criminal organizations working on its behalf pose an unacceptable threat to the UK’s national security.”
In a separate incident last December, Chechen-born Austrian national Magomed Hussein Dokhtaev was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for espionage for Iran before a “planned attack” on mainland Britain. He was sentenced to imprisonment.
Since the beginning of 2022, 15 plots to kidnap or kill individuals in the UK who are considered enemies of the Iranian regime have been thwarted, the Metropolitan Police said.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said officers remained vigilant about the motive behind the attack.
Mr Murphy said extra patrols were being sent to the attack area in south London and “other locations around London” as a precaution.
No arrests have been made.
image source, iran international
Puglia Zehrati is a television host of the Iranian international program “The Last Word”.
Almost 18 months ago, Iran International became one of the leading news providers during a wave of anti-government protests in Iran.
Following Friday’s incident, Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, described the stabbing as “very upsetting”.
“We don’t know the circumstances of this attack, but Iran continues to hunt down those brave enough to speak out against the regime,” she told X.
“But I remain unconvinced that we and our allies have a clear strategy to protect our own people from them and protect our interests abroad.”
