Iran International Presenter Discharged After London Attack
Pouria Zeraati, an Iran International presenter stabbed by unidentified assailants in London, has been discharged from hospital.
Pouria Zeraati, an Iran International presenter stabbed by unidentified assailants in London, has been discharged from hospital.
Zeraati was injured in the leg when leaving his home in London on Friday afternoon.
The Standard newspaper, citing an eyewitness, reported on Saturday that two young men stabbed the journalist four times before fleeing the scene while laughing.
While the motive is unclear, the attack happened just a few months after a plot by the Iranian regime to kill 2 other Iran International journalists was revealed.
London's Metropolitan Police have initiated an investigation into the incident, noting the victim's profession as a reporter for a Persian-language media outlet based in Britain.
The attack is being treated with utmost seriousness, especially considering the multiple threats against the channel’s journalists in recent times, with specialist counter-terrorism officers leading the inquiry.
In response to the attack, numerous political figures and civil activists, including Masih Alinejad, Shirin Ebadi, and Alireza Akhondi, condemned the assault on Zeraati.
Meanwhile, Mehdi Hosseini Matin, an official at the Iranian embassy in London, denied any involvement of the country’s agents in the attack, in spite of the UK’s security services revealing that multiple attacks on UK-based dissident journalists have been foiled in the last two years.
Last year the channel’s offices had to temporarily relocate to the US after threats reached such a level that the UK’s domestic security services could no longer guarantee the staff’s safety.
