An Iranian journalist stabbed in London has shared a report that claims his attackers were hired from eastern Europe and flown in to Britain ahead of the incident.
Pouria Zeraati, host of Iran International's Final Word, was stabbed in the leg outside his home in Wimbledon last month.
He posted on X on Friday, sharing a story detailing the latest police theories about the attack.
According to The Guardian, detectives believe three male suspects were hired from eastern Europe to carry out the attack and one may be linked to Albania.
Those who planned the attack, which is believed to be linked to the Iranian regime, are thought to have used knowledge of criminal gangs to hire the attackers, it added.
The strategy of using proxies makes it easier for Iran to deny involvement, while anyone hired from eastern Europe is unlikely to be on UK watch lists.
Mr Zeraati, 36, was crossing the road to get to his car outside his home in south-west London when a man wearing a black hooded tracksuit approached him.
“He said, ‘Brother, I need £3 in cash,'” Mr Zeraati told The Sunday Times.
He told the man he did not have any change. At that point, a second man ran across the road and grabbed Mr Zeraati in a bear hug.
He said he could not see the man’s face or move his hands but saw the first man take a knife from his pocket.
“It was like something gangsters would use; it wasn’t a kitchen knife. The whole thing lasted about 10 seconds." he added.
“In those few seconds, the only thing I was thinking was: where is he going to stab me – in my throat, in my eyes, in my heart? They had the chance to kill me.”
Mr Zeraati was stabbed in the back of his right thigh. He was taken to hospital, where he received stitches for the wound and was sent home within 48 hours.
Iran International and its journalists have previously been targets of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The channel in London aims to provide independent coverage of Iran, which has declared the outlet a terrorist organisation.
In January, the British Foreign Office imposed sanctions on members of the IRGC’s Unit 840, after an ITV investigation into a plot to kill two Iran International presenters in the UK.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) this week urged the UK government to better protect Iranian journalists who are being targeted with "chilling" repression by Tehran.
RSF said almost 90 per cent of Iranian journalists surveyed had experienced online threats or harassment, including death or rape threats, in the past five years.
Female respondents said they or their family members had been sent explicit images while facing campaigns to damage their reputations.
"Iran has for a very long time been systematically targeting journalists who report on Iran from abroad in an effort to silence them," RSF UK director Fiona O'Brien said. "The impact on journalists and on journalism is really devastating."
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
Company%20profile
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Saturday's schedule at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 race, 12:30pm
Formula 1 final practice, 2pm
Formula 1 qualifying, 5pm
Formula 2 race, 6:40pm
Performance: Sam Smith
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
