Two men sentenced for plotting Iran-backed assassination of German Jewish leader
A Hamburg court has convicted a Danish and an Afghan national for plotting to assassinate Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, on behalf of Iran. The Danish man received eight and a half years and the Afghan man four and a half years in prison. The case reflects ongoing German concerns about alleged Iranian plots targeting Jewish figures in Europe.
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A regional court in Hamburg on Thursday sentenced two men for planning to kill Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, acting for the Iranian state. The Danish national received eight years and six months in prison, while the Afghan national was sentenced to four years and six months.
This case represents the latest in a series of alleged Iranian-linked plots against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe that German security services have investigated in recent years. According to officials, these plots are part of a broader pattern of state-sponsored efforts to intimidate or harm critics and symbolic figures associated with Israel and Jewish communities abroad. Schuster, a prominent public figure in Germany on issues of antisemitism and Holocaust remembrance, has previously expressed concern about increased security threats facing Jewish leaders in the country.
The sentencing is expected to further damage relations between Berlin and Tehran, which are already strained over Iran's nuclear programme and its support for armed groups throughout the Middle East. German authorities have not disclosed whether the convicted men had direct contact with Iranian state agents beyond what the court established in its ruling.
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