An Iranian journalist who was stabbed near his home in Wimbledon has been discharged from hospital.

Police continue to investigate the stabbing which occurred on March 29, where a journalist in his thirties was left injured.

Paramedics treated the man before taking him to hospital at around 2.49pm – he has since been discharged.

The victim, Pouria Zeraati, is affiliated with a Persian-language media organisation in the UK, which has previously received threats.

Specialist officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command are leading the investigation.

Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "We continue to assess the circumstances of this incident and our investigation is making progress, but I am not yet able to provide further information about any motive behind the attack.

“While officers continue to follow active leads, I am not in a position to release further information about our enquiries into those responsible.

“However, I can confirm that I am confident these suspects do not present a risk to communities of London or the UK.

“I appreciate the concern this incident has caused, for local people as well as for those in similar lines of work and from Iranian communities.

“We are working closely with the victim’s organisation and additional patrols are continuing in the Wimbledon area and at other locations in London.

“If you have any concerns, please do speak with these officers.

“I am grateful to everyone who has assisted officers with their enquiries or provided witness accounts to police.

“Dedicated officers and specialists from across the Met are continuing to work at pace with partner organisations to establish exactly what happened and identify those responsible.”

Police have asked anyone with any information about the incident to call 0800 789 321.

DIran International spokesman Adam Baillie previously said the incident was “hugely frightening” but Mr Zeraati was “doing very well” and recovering in hospital.

Mr Zeraati posted a picture giving a peace sign from his hospital bed.

 

The London-based dissident channel aims to provide independent coverage of Iran, but the Tehran regime has declared it a terrorist organisation.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been targeting journalists and their families, Mr Baillie said.

Iran’s charge d’affaires in the UK Mehdi Hosseini Matin said “we deny any link” to the incident.

The Metropolitan Police said the motivation for Friday’s attack was not yet clear, but Mr Zeraati’s occupation coupled with recent threats towards UK-based Iranian journalists meant the probe was being led by specialist counter-terrorism officers.

Mr Baillie said: “It was a shocking, shocking incident, whatever the outcome of an investigation reveals.

“But for him as a leading presenter, as with our other presenters and journalists, yes, it is a great shock.

“It’s the first attack of its kind.”

Asked what he believed lay behind the attack, Mr Baillie told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “We can’t say. The fact that counter-terrorism is leading the investigation probably speaks for itself.

“Along with our colleagues at BBC Persian, Iran International has been under threat, very heavy threats, for the last 18 months since the IRGC said ‘we’re coming for you’, which they have consistently repeated.”

He said the IRGC “get in touch through proxies, they don’t leave a paper trail”.

“No one’s going to call up from the IRGC and go ‘hey, it’s us’, but families have been taken in for questioning and threatened.”

He added: “The scale of that has increased dramatically over the last few months, and the scale and the type of questioning is more aggressive, ‘tell your relatives to stop working for this channel’ and so on.”