A Chechen-born man has been given a prison sentence after being found guilty of spying on a London-based dissident Iranian TV station to help terror plotters.

Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, 31, was accused of conducting surveillance on the west London headquarters of Iran International as part of a plan by others to carry out a terror attack.

He was found guilty of one charge of attempting to collect information useful for terrorism this week.

Dovtaev was sentenced to three years and six months at the Old Bailey today. He will have to serve two-thirds of the sentence, minus the time he has already spent in custody.

Asked why he had taken an interest in the Chiswick Business Park building and its surroundings, he told the Old Bailey he “quite simply liked it” and was “in wonder at the architecture”.

Prosecutors said Dovtaev, an Austrian citizen, originally from Chechnya, covertly filmed material on his phone in order to “identify vulnerabilities” in the media company’s security which could be exploited by others.

The court heard the TV station had been critical of the Iranian government for years and publicly accused it of human rights violations.

Man guilty of spying on London-based TV channel Iran International to help terror plotters

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