UK anti-terrorism police investigate stabbing of Persian language journalist

LONDON (Reuters) - British counter-terrorism detectives are investigating after a journalist working for a Persian language media organisation was stabbed in London on Friday amid fears he had been targeted because of his job, police said.

Police said the man, aged in his 30s, was attacked and sustained an injury to his leg in the incident in Wimbledon, southwest London, on Friday afternoon. Britain's National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the victim was prominent British-based Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati, who hosts a show on the Persian language television news network Iran International which is critical of Iran's government.

Police said his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening and he was in a stable condition. "This cowardly attack on Pouria is deeply shocking, and our thoughts are with him, his family and all of his colleagues at Iran International," Michelle Stanistreet, the NUJ general secretary said in a statement.

In January, Britain imposed sanctions on Iranian officials it said were involved in threats to kill journalists on British soil. Those officials were members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Unit 840, which an investigation by ITV news in Britain said was involved in plots to assassinate two television presenters from Iran International in the UK.

"While we are keeping an open mind, given the occupation of the victim and our publicised concerns about the threat to employees of that organisation, the investigation is being led by the Counter Terrorism Command," Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of that unit, said.

His comments came exactly one year after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich became the first US journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War – an act Biden called "wholly unjust and illegal."