00:03I think, sadly, acts of violence across London are prevalent.
00:09We work incredibly hard to minimise them.
00:11The added complexity of this being a Persian language media organisation employee targeted.
00:19Yes, a gentleman was subjected to a very vicious and violent attack, but it is the prosecution
00:25case that this was done at the behest of overseas entities.
00:29And because of his prominence in speaking out against a regime that he can only do safely
00:36here rather than in his home country.
00:39On Friday, jurors at Woolwich Crown Courts found Romanian nationals 21-year-old Nandito Badea
00:46and 25-year-old George Starner both guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily
00:53harm.
00:53Iran international journalist Porya Zariati was left bleeding in the streets after he
01:00was attacked by proxies of the Iranian regime outside his home in Wimbledon on 29 March 2024.
01:09Journalists and media organisations should not be unduly alarmed by this.
01:14Yes, this is a very, very topical case, certainly for media organisations across London and across
01:20the UK.
01:20It is rare and we do take it incredibly seriously and we work incredibly hard with media organisations
01:26to protect and prepare their employees.
01:30Do we see this on a very regular basis in the UK?
01:32No, we do not.
01:33But do we see proxies being used to further the regime's reach into democracies?
01:41Yes, we do.
01:43And to be categorically clear, attacks on journalists or media is wholly unacceptable because it's
01:49an attack on the individual but it's also an attack on our democracy and our freedom to
01:53speak and ways of life here in the UK.
01:55Mr. Zariati, Mr. Zariati is a very prominent journalist working at the time and subsequently
02:04for Iran International, which is one of the broadcast entities for Volant Media, a UK based,
02:12London based entity who sadly have been categorised by the Iranian regime as a terror organisation.
02:20They speak out against what they believe to be atrocities in Iran and they do so from studios
02:28based here in London.
02:29He is, at the time, residing in London with his family, going about his lawful abiding daily
02:36business and is subject to this violent attack as a consequence.
02:42He was hospitalised with a number of stab wounds, but he was very quickly seen on Iran International
02:53Media Channel sitting up in bed talking to us.
02:55He was able to help us throughout the investigation.
02:57Music
02:58Music
02:59Music
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