The UK police have released footage of the moment they arrested a suspect gathering information on Iran International's headquarters in London earlier this year.
During the seventh hearing session for Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev (Mohammad-Hussein Dovtaev) on Tuesday, the court released new images and videos of his arrest by the Metropolitan Police.
Originally from Chechnya but residing in Austria, Dovtaev was detained at Chiswick Business Park by officers from London’s Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command in February.
In the footage released on Tuesday, police approached him as he was sitting in a cafe nearby the building. He was told that he was being arrested on terrorism charges and he calmly replied, “I was just filming the area... I thought it was wonderful.”
According to prosecutors, he tried to take photos and videos of the security arrangements around the office building that housed Iran International and send the intel to a third party. He is charged with a single count of attempting to collect information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism." He has pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to conclude next week.
Prosecutor Nicholas de la Poer told London's Old Bailey on Monday that Iran International became a target for reprisals following its reporting on the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in Iran last year and subsequent protests in the country. Iran's minister of intelligence later declared Iran International a terrorist organization, de la Poer said, which meant its employees "became targets for violent reprisals".
In November 2022, Volant Media, the parent company of Iran International, said that two of its journalists had been notified by the police of direct threats. Following the significant escalation in Iranian state-backed threats and advice from the London Metropolitan Police, Iran International TV announced in February that it reluctantly and temporarily closed its London studios and moved broadcasting to Washington DC. The network relaunched operations from a new London building in September.