{"id":18976,"date":"2026-05-21T16:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/18976\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:21:15","slug":"alleged-irgc-operative-charged-with-plotting-to-kill-german-jewish-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/18976\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged IRGC operative charged with plotting to kill German Jewish leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man arrested last year has been charged with espionage and attempted participation in murder after an Iranian intelligence agency tasked him with gathering information on the head of Germany\u2019s main Jewish group and three others with a view to carrying out attacks, German prosecutors said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The suspect, a Danish national identified only as Ali S. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested<\/a> last June in Denmark. An alleged accomplice, an Afghan national identified as Tawab M.,\u00a0also was arrested\u00a0there in November. Federal prosecutors said they filed an indictment against the pair at the Hamburg state court on May 7.<\/p>\n

Ali S. was charged with working as an agent for an intelligence service, acting as a secret agent for purposes of sabotage and attempted participation in murder and arson. Tawab M. was charged with attempted participation in murder.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged that Ali S. worked for the intelligence service of Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and was in close contact with the Guard\u2019s expeditionary Quds Force.<\/p>\n

They said that, at the beginning of 2025, he was tasked with gathering information on the head of Germany\u2019s Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, and on the head of the German-Israeli Society, prominent former German lawmaker Volker Beck, as well as two Jewish grocers in Berlin whom they didn\u2019t identify.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAll this served for the preparation of assassination and arson attacks in Germany,\u201d prosecutors said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIllustrative: A giant menorah is set up in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, on December 12, 2025. (Tobias SCHWARZ \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Ali S. scouted out various locations in Berlin last year and sought accomplices for attacks, they added. By May 2025, he was in contact with Tawab M., who allegedly said that he was prepared to procure a weapon for an unidentified third person and arrange for him to try to kill Beck.<\/p>\n

German newspaper Der Spiegel said Ali S.\u2019s defense attorney vowed to contest the charges against the suspect, while an attorney for Tawab M. declined to comment.<\/p>\n

After Ali S. was arrested last year, Iran\u2019s ambassador was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry. The Iranian Embassy at the time rejected what it called \u201cunfounded and dangerous allegations\u201d of an apparent plan for an attack on Jewish facilities.<\/p>\n

In a statement Thursday, the German-Israeli Society said Beck, its president, had been warned for six weeks last summer that \u201can attack could come at any moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tGreen Party politician Volker Beck speaks during a debate at the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, June 30, 2017. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)<\/p>\n

The statement quoted Beck as saying that German democracy and Jewish life in the country were under constant threat of attack from Iran and that \u201cthis must not go unpunished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Thursday\u2019s indictment, the Society demanded Berlin expel the Iranian ambassador, freeze assets linked to Iran\u2019s slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and levy sanctions on Iran-linked financial institutions.<\/p>\n

Diaspora Jewish communities have faced an uptick in attacks since the US and Israel launched war on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.<\/p>\n

Authorities have been probing possible Iran links in several of the attacks. Last week, the US Justice Department announced<\/a> the arrest of a senior commander of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia for plotting what prosecutors said were close to 20 terror attacks on Jewish targets in the US, Europe and Canada during the Iran war.<\/p>\n


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