Germany summons Iran envoy over assassination plots

Germany summoned Iran's ambassador on Monday after two men were jailed last week over what German authorities called assassination plots against pro-Israeli public figures on behalf of Tehran.

Germany's foreign ministry said the Iranian ambassador had been summoned and said Tehran would not be allowed to “threaten our free society”. It said the “malicious assassination attempts” would have legal consequences.

A Hamburg court convicted a Danish national and an Afghan national on Thursday over plans to target the president of Germany's main Jewish community group and the head of the German-Israeli society.

The Danish man, partially identified as Ali Hassan S., was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. Prosecutors said he worked directly for Iranian intelligence and was tasked with scouting targets in Germany for assassinations and arson attacks.

Prosecutors said he had also planned to target a Jewish grocer's shop in Berlin. The Afghan man, who prosecutors said had been recruited as his accomplice, was sentenced to four and a half years.

The court heard that the Afghan man had agreed to recruit a third man and provide him with a weapon for an attack on the head of the German-Israeli society.

The two men were convicted in Germany after being arrested in Denmark last year and extradited. The judge said they were guilty of “terrorist activities orchestrated by Iran”.

When the two men were charged, Iran's embassy in Berlin rejected what it called unfounded allegations made at the request of Iran's enemies.