TEL AVIV – Iran’s intelligence agency planned terrorist attacks against pro-Israel organizations and individuals in Germany, according to German media reports.
Federal prosecutors on Monday indicted Syed Mustafa H., a 31-year-old Pakistani who worked for the German Aerospace Center in Bremen, on charges of espionage.
Mustafa intended to assassinate the former president of the German-Israel Friendship Society (DIG), Reinhold Robbe, on behalf of Iran, West German Broadcasting (WDR) reported.
According to the indictment, Robbe’s movements were being tracked with Mustafa following him on his morning commutes. Robbe, who also served as a Social Democratic Party deputy, was the head of DIG until 2015.
Mustafa also staked out an unnamed French-Israeli professor at a business college in Paris, the report said.
A second Pakistani suspect was also arrested but later released due to insufficient evidence, having erased his computer of incriminating information. He left Germany after being detained.
According to the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel newspaper, Mustafa was likely an operative for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. Having studied engineering at Bremerhaven College, Mustafa provided PowerPoint presentations to Iran’s intelligence agency. However, WDR said Mustafa was somewhat of an amateur who communicated, in broken English, inaccurate information about Robbe.
German authorities concluded that Mustafa’s activities were “a clear indication of an assassination attempt.”
Mustafa had reportedly been in contact with a person from Iran’s intelligence agency responsible for espionage in Europe since 2011, the indictment said.
WDR said that Iran was planning large-scale operations targeting pro-Israel groups in Western Europe as revenge for Israeli threats to wipe out Tehran’s nuclear facilities in an air strike.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Iran has a considerable espionage network in Germany.