An Austrian man is on trial accused of finishing up “hostile reconnaissance” of a TV station in London that was doubtlessly being focused for a terrorist assault.
Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev is claimed to have tried to covertly movie safety preparations exterior the headquarters of the Persian-language channel Iran International in February.
Prosecutors stated the TV station was a possible goal for plotters after Iran’s authorities criticised its protection of protests within the nation following the demise in custody of Mahsa Amini.
Iran’s minister of intelligence later declared the channel a terrorist organisation, making its workers “targets for violent reprisals,” jurors had been advised.
Dovtaev, initially from Chechnya, was questioned by safety guards exterior the firm’s premises in Chiswick Business Park, west London, however advised them he was visiting the world to satisfy a buddy.
However, he was later arrested by counterterrorism police after he was seen filming the constructing on his cell phone, the courtroom heard.
It got here simply hours after he flew into the nation from Austria.
The 31-year-old denies a single cost of trying to gather info more likely to be helpful to an individual committing or making ready an act of terrorism.
Prosecutors stated they weren’t suggesting that Dovtaev himself aimed to hold out or take part in an assault on the constructing or its employees.
Jurors on the Old Bailey had been advised he sought to “identify and exploit” vulnerabilities on the constructing and that his go to was the latest in a collection of comparable journeys by “others unknown”.
Videos of the constructing pre-dating the day he visited had been saved to his telephone, the courtroom heard.
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Prosecutor Nicholas de la Poer KC advised jurors on Monday: “The prosecution’s case is that he [Dovtaev] was not there to meet a friend or to look at the scenery.
“The prosecution’s case is that he was finishing up hostile reconnaissance.
“He had travelled to the UK in order that any [security] vulnerabilities could be identified and exploited.”
Mr De la Poer advised the courtroom that the constructing’s safety was “of very real and practical interest to those who might wish to carry out” reprisals towards the TV channel.
He added: “It is the prosecution’s case that the defendant, no doubt acting on the instructions of others, went to the Chiswick Business Park for the purpose of gathering information about the security arrangements around Iran International.
“Such info could be helpful to anybody making ready to assault [it].”
The trial, which is predicted to conclude subsequent week, continues.
Source: information.sky.com”