UK Turns Counter-Terrorism Attention To Iran, Russia And China
Britain's counter-terrorism police chief said on Thursday his officers are increasingly dealing with threats from hostile states such as Russia, China and Iran.
Britain's counter-terrorism police chief said on Thursday his officers are increasingly dealing with threats from hostile states such as Russia, China and Iran.
The announcement signaled a shift from focusing on Islamic extremism to dangers posed by adversarial states. The September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and deadly incidents in Britain made tackling Islamist plots the priority for counter-terrorism police, with resources focused on the threat from home-grown and foreign-based militants.
Matt Jukes, the head of counter-terrorism at London's Metropolitan Police, said there has been a shift in emphasis as foreign states try to corrupt or intimidate people and are involved in murder and kidnap plots in Britain.
"The requirement for us to play a law enforcement part in countering the threats from hostile states is unprecedented," Jukes told reporters at New Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police's headquarters.
The police in London arrested a man last Saturday in the vicinity of Iran International’s headquarters at Chiswick Park and indicted him according to section 58 (1) (b) of the Terrorism Act 2000. He appeared to be surveying the office building where the network has its headquarters.
The suspect, Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev (Mohammad-Hussein Dovtaev), 30, an Austrian national, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. The suspect's name in Russian spelling signals that he is originally from one of the former Soviet republics, more likely from a Muslim-majority country.
The incident came after the Metropolitan police warned the network in November of serious threats originating from Iran against its journalists and provided extra protection.
Iran has long engaged in terror plots against Iranian dissidents and journalists abroad, conducting intimidation, assassination and kidnapping operations.
Investigations involving state threats have quadrupled in the last the last two years and these cases now account for a fifth of counter terrorism officers' times, he said.
Iran has made at least 15 attempts to kidnap or even kill British nationals or individuals based in the United Kingdom regarded by Tehran as a threat, Jukes said.
Last year, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly summoned Tehran's most senior diplomat over alleged threats by Iranian security forces to journalists in Britain.
The Iranian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.
Jukes said police were making inquiries after claims China last year was operating "police stations" in major cities around the world, including New York. China has denied the allegations.
Britain blamed Russia for a 2018 nerve agent attack targeting former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, southern England, a charge Moscow has denied. And this week a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin was in a London court accused of spying for Russia.
The Metropolitan Police's War Crimes Team, which is a unit within its counter-terrorism command, is also dealing with more than 100 referrals from Ukrainian refugees in Britain related to the war with Russia, he said.
Despite the shift in focus, counter-terrorism police's biggest job is still tackling terrorism. Jukes said police disrupted eight late-stage terror plots last year and in some cases they have been investigating children as young as 13.
The chief prosecutor of Iran's Khorasan Razavi province, Mohammad-Hossein Doroudi, still refrains from naming the club but according to reports the scandal took place at a sports school in the religious city of Mashhad called “Namazgozaran,” literally meaning the ones who pray. The number of arrested whistleblowers is more than the suspects in the case. He did not mention whether or when a court session took place for the case.
The two journalists who broke the news were banned from work for six months, which is exactly the sentence given to the coach, who is accused by the families of the boys of sexually abusing their children and – according to unconfirmed reports – filming them. Another journalist and an official of the city’s Sports and Youth Organization were also given sentences over the case.
The prosecutor has not elaborated on the case and the sentences, as is the norm in the Islamic Republic when the scandal is very big or when the accused are connected to high-ranking officials.
The prosecutor, who had earlier warned the families not to speak to the media, said, "According to the investigation, no document and proof of physical assault by the coach at this football school has been presented to the judicial system and nothing has been proven." But he did not explain why the caich was suspended for six months.
In January, Sports Minister Hamid Sadjadi said he had ordered an investigation following reports of sexual abuse. According to the Iranian official news agency, IRNA, a former media manager for the Shahr Khodro football team said on social media in January that the parents of 15 trainees from had filed a complaint against the club and coaches for sexual assault on their children.
The incident made it to the media when Shahrara daily, which is affiliated to Mashhad municipality, reported that “families of the children had gathered in front of the headquarters of the provincial football organization to protest this tragedy.” Since there was no follow-up by the authorities, the families were forced to publicize the case through the media, the daily added.
During a press conference late in January, Judiciary Spokesman Masoud Setayeshi, who was asked about the case, said, "We are investigating what is the motive for publishing such news."
Sexual abuse has made football schools a serious threat for children and teenagers. Reports say even some mothers of the children receive sexual offers from the coaches and officials of these schools.
Reza Torabian, a former football player, had earlier said that “Some officials of football schools ask the single moms to have sex in return for letting their kids play in famous teams.”
Sexual abuse of minors in football schools and other institutions is usually not reported by officials, but in the last two decades, Iranian media have published numerous reports of such cases.
One of the cases that was internationally covered was the case of Supreme Leader’s "favorite Quran reciter" Saeed Toosi, who was accused of "sexually abusing underage trainees." In October 2016, reports revealed that Toosi sexually abused 19 of his prepubescent Quran students over the past years.
The Islamic Republic authorities usually prefer to detain journalists who spill the beans in scandalous cases, as they did in the case of Mahsa Amini’s death in hijab police custody, an event that triggered the ongoing antiregime protests. The current wave of rallies has been described as the boldest challenge against the clerical regime so far. In a new book, two Iranian academics argue that Iranians have lost trust in the regime, which is perceived as inefficient and mired in discriminatory behavior.