Tonight, Iran International TV revealed the identity of one of the key figures behind the Handala hacking group that claimed responsibility for attacking the network's newsroom last month. As I've documented in my previous investigation into the Banished Kitten cyber unit, this group operates under Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, using Palestinian symbolism as cover for their operations. Tonight's investigation by Iran International identifies Ali Bermoode, a 27-year-old from Tabriz, as an admin of Handala's channels—an amateur hacker whose father works for the Martyrs Foundation and who has been serving Iran's cyber police since he was 16.
Ali Bermoudeh - National ID: 1362398276
Morteza Aftabi-Far - National ID: 1680072404
The investigation goes deeper, connecting Bermoode to his Intelligence Ministry handler Morteza Aftabifar, and ultimately to Yahya Hosseini Panjaki, the Deputy Director of Domestic Security at Iran's Intelligence Ministry. After the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Panjaki following Iran International's exposé last year, he orchestrated this cyber attack as personal revenge—ironically, while he was supposed to be catching Israeli spies who were operating freely in Tehran. The full segment from tonight's broadcast, which includes addresses, documents, and evidence of how a group pretending to defend Palestine is actually Tehran's tool to silence Iranian journalists, is now available to watch with English subtitles.