Berlin: Germany on Monday summoned the Iranian ambassador after two men were jailed last week over what it called a “malicious” plot to assassinate pro-Israeli public figures on behalf of Tehran.
A Hamburg court on Thursday convicted a Danish national and an Afghan national for planning to target the president of Germany’s main group representing the Jewish community and the head of the German-Israeli society.
The foreign ministry said on X the Iranian ambassador had been summoned, adding Tehran would not be allowed to “threaten our free society.”
“The malicious assassination attempts... will have legal consequences,” it said.
“We do not tolerate attacks on Jewish life and on those who defend it — anywhere, and certainly not in Germany.”
The Danish man, partially identified as Ali Hassan S., was jailed for eight and a half years.
The 54-year-old worked directly for Iranian intelligence and was tasked with scouting targets in Germany in preparation for assassinations and arson attacks, according to prosecutors.
As well as prominent pro-Israel figures, he had been planning to target a Jewish grocer’s shop in Berlin, they said.
The Afghan man, who was recruited as his accomplice, was jailed for four and a half years.
He had agreed to recruit a third man and provide him with a weapon for the attack on the head of the German-Israeli society, the court heard.
The two men were convicted in Germany after being arrested in Denmark last year and extradited.
Sentencing them, the judge said they were guilty of “terrorist activities orchestrated by Iran.”
When the two men were charged, the Iranian embassy in Berlin released a statement rejecting what it called “unfounded allegations made at the behest of Iran’s enemies.”