Terror scout caught spying on broadcaster’s London base
A terror scout spied on a dissident Iranian television channel in the UK, a court heard, as counter-terror police revealed they had foiled 15 plots linked to Iran.
Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, 31, an Austrian IT worker who was born in Chechnya, carried out hostile reconnaissance on the headquarters of Persian-language television channel, Iran International, based in Chiswick Park in February.
The TV station had previously been declared a “terrorist organisation” by the Iranian state, but detectives were unable to directly link Dovtaev to the Tehran government.
Dovtaev made no reaction in the dock on Wednesday when the jury delivered its unanimous guilty verdict for attempting to collect information for terrorist purposes after nearly seven hours of deliberations.
Speaking after the verdict, Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said police were “very alive to the threat posed by Iran”, having foiled 15 plots linked to the hostile state.
He said: “For a considerable amount of time, we’ve been worried about threats projected into the UK from Iran.
“At this time, we don’t know why Dovtaev was conducting this activity except to say that we believe very strongly that it was for terrorism.
“We don’t know who did it but we have always been concerned about threats projected into the UK, and in this case particularly against Persian language media.
“I’m pleased to say the company is still broadcasting from London, but just in a different location.”
Jurors had heard how Iran International had been highly critical of the Iranian government for years and publicly accused it of human rights violations. In September 2022, it reported on the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for allegedly violating headscarf rules.
Jurors were also told of close political ties between Iran, Russia and Chechnya, where the defendant was born.
On Feb 11, the Austrian national and married father-of-three boarded a plane from Vienna to Gatwick.
From the airport, he took a taxi directly to the headquarters of Iran International and carried out “hostile reconnaissance” for an unidentified individual or group, the court was told.
He sought to “identify and exploit” vulnerabilities in the security of the company’s premises in the Chiswick Business Park, west London, jurors heard.
When initially questioned, he told security guards he was meeting a friend.
He was arrested by police at a nearby Starbucks cafe after he was seen filming the Iran International building on his phone.
In a prepared statement to police, he denied being involved with any terrorist organisation and claimed he had taken a video “to show to my three children as there was a lake there”.
Giving evidence, the defendant denied wrongdoing and claimed he had been “set up”.
He claimed not to know why he had been sent to the business park and said he felt tricked by his contact, whose identity he did not know.
Asked why he appeared to take an interest in the building and its surroundings, he said he “quite simply liked it” and was “in wonder at the architecture”.
Dovtaev said he had been sent to the UK to do something he “didn’t understand” and that he had “no reason” to help the Iranian government to attack its enemies in England.
Nicholas de la Poer KC, for the prosecution, said the TV station had been targeted because it was critical of the Iranian regime.
He said: “As a result of the Iranian authorities’ attitude towards Iran International, the organisation and its employees all became targets for violent reprisals.
“As such, the security at their place of work was of very real and practical interest to those who might wish to carry out such reprisals.
“The very fact that the defendant went to collect information shows that planning by others was already under way.”
