A court in Hamburg sentenced two men to prison on October 15 over planned attacks against prominent Jewish and pro-Israel figures in Germany.
A Danish national identified as Ali S. received eight and a half years in prison. An Afghan national identified as Tawab M. was sentenced to four and a half years for his role in the plot.
Reuters reported that the court found Ali S. had been recruited by Iranian intelligence and integrated into its operations to carry out state-sponsored terrorist activities in Germany. The verdicts can be appealed.
The targets included Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society. The court said Ali S. was tasked in early 2025 with gathering information on both men and Jewish grocery businesses in Berlin.
According to AFP, prosecutors said Tawab M. had agreed to recruit another person and provide a weapon for an attack on Beck. Prosecutors linked the instructions given to Ali S. to the Quds Force, the foreign operations branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The defendants were arrested in Denmark and extradited to Germany in 2025. German authorities summoned Iran’s ambassador following Ali S.’s arrest.
Iran’s embassy in Berlin previously rejected the accusations as unfounded. Reuters reported that the embassy did not immediately respond to its request for comment on the verdict.
The sentences mark a new development in a case concerning threats against Jewish community leaders and public figures associated with Israel.
References
timesofisrael/liveblog_entry/germany-jails-two-men-for-planned-attacks-on-pro-israel-jewish-figures/
jpost/diaspora/antisemitism/article-911844
