A German court sentenced two men to prison on Thursday for their involvement in an Iranian-directed plot to assassinate prominent Jewish and pro-Israel figures in Germany, AFP reported.
The Hamburg court handed an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence to a Danish citizen identified as Ali Hassan S. for preparing deadly attacks against public figures, including Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society, and Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
His accomplice, Afghan national Tawab M., received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for his role in the conspiracy.
According to prosecutors, Tawab M. had agreed to recruit another individual to carry out the planned attack against Beck and supply that person with a weapon.
Presiding judge Petra Wende-Spors described the plot as “terrorist activities orchestrated by Iran," saying the Danish defendant had been preparing a contract killing “for purely political reasons."
Prosecutors said Ali Hassan S. began receiving instructions in early 2025 from the Quds Force, the overseas operations arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In addition to preparing attacks against the two prominent figures, the Danish national conducted surveillance of a Jewish-owned grocery store in Berlin, according to the prosecution.
Both defendants were arrested in Denmark last year before being extradited to Germany to face trial.
The case had previously prompted a diplomatic confrontation between Germany and Iran.
In July last year, following the arrest of the Danish suspect, Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the alleged involvement of Iranian intelligence services.
Iran has denied responsibility for the plot.
After German prosecutors filed charges against the two suspects, the Iranian Embassy in Berlin issued a statement dismissing the accusations as “unfounded allegations made at the behest of Iran’s enemies."