An Iranian journalist working for a Persian-language news channel has been stabbed outside his London home. This awful incident has sparked an investigation led by counter-terrorism police.
According to report, Pouria Zeraati, a presenter for Iran International, was reportedly attacked by a group of men as he left home on Friday. He was taken to hospital and is in a stable condition.
The Metropolitan police confirmed that officers were called to an address in Wimbledon, south London, at 2.49pm, and that a man in his 30s had sustained an injury to his leg. It said the man’s condition was “not believed to be life-threatening” and that an investigation had been opened. No arrests have yet been made.
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Responding to the stabbing, Michelle Stanistreet, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said it was a “shocking” and “cowardly attack”.
Alicia Kearns, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, lamented: “This is deeply upsetting.
Whilst we don’t know the circumstances of this attack, Iran continues to hunt down those brave enough to speak out against the regime. Yet I remain unconvinced that we and our allies have clear strategies to protect people in our countries from them, and protect our interests abroad.”
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s counter-terrorism command explained the need to keep an open heart about the issue bearing in mind the nature of the victims occupation.
In his words, “I must stress that, at this early stage of our investigation, we do not know the reason why this victim was attacked and there could be a number of explanations for this.”
