The Attorney General is investigating a series of attacks on Jewish institutions. He blames an “operational team” controlled by the Iranian state. There are more suspects than previously known.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have allegedly ordered attacks on Jewish institutions in Germany. According to information from t-online, the Attorney General has expanded the investigation and is now investigating numerous suspects on suspicion of forming a criminal organization and other criminal offenses. This emerges from a decision by the Federal Court of Justice, which is available on t-online.
At least four suspects are assigned to a so-called operational team that is said to have coordinated and committed the attacks. Three of them are said to be responsible for an arson attack on a school in Bochum and shots at the rabbi’s house of the old synagogue in Essen. They are also accused of an attack on the synagogue in Dortmund, which failed at the planning stage. The fourth suspect is considered by investigators to be the mastermind in Iran. The group acted on behalf of an elite Iranian unit for anti-Semitic reasons.
A suspect has already been charged
The night attacks in Bochum and Essen attracted nationwide attention at the end of last year. After the first arrest, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) admitted early on that there could be a connection between the crimes in Essen and Bochum. The ARD political magazine “Kontraste” reported a little later, citing investigators, for the first time on the suspicion that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards could be behind the attacks.
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One of the suspects has been charged since mid-May and is in custody. The 35-year-old German-Iranian Babak J. is charged with attempted arson in Bochum and inciting serious arson in Dortmund. An acquaintance of his had rejected J.’s insistence and contacted the police.
Mastermind also wanted for biker murder
J. received the order for the attacks from an intermediary in Iran, who in turn acted on behalf of an “unspecified Iranian state agency,” the federal prosecutor said at the time. The decision of the Federal Court of Justice now gives details of the structure of the group and its clients.
Bullet holes after the attack in Essen: A suspect was searched in February, as is now known. (Source: Justin Brosch/ANC-NEWS/dpa/dpa-images)
The already accused J. and the mastermind Y. in Iran are named as suspects in the document. According to media reports, Y. is said to be the former leader of the Hells Angels in Mönchengladbach. He has been wanted for the murder of Hells Angel Kai M. since 2021. A third suspect is said to have fired the shots at the synagogue in Essen. In the case against him, investigators searched two apartments in February and secured evidence.
Elite unit for secret foreign operations
Nothing can be found in the decision about the alleged involvement of the fourth suspect. But it is not the man who was supposed to be incited to attack in Dortmund. He is still considered a witness who apparently heavily incriminated J. and Y. Y. denied the allegations via his Instagram account. According to the decision, however, further investigation results support the descriptions.
The group had come together by June 2022 at the latest in order to “perpetrate attacks on synagogues and possibly other Jewish facilities in Germany,” it said. Y. called J. every day and asked him to carry out the attacks. J. is said to have admitted during his interrogation that he received the order from Iran – but for “reasons of self-protection” he gave a different name.
Y. allegedly coordinated the actions in cooperation with the so-called Quds forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. This is an elite unit for secret foreign operations. For years, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has accused her of spying on Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany to prepare for attacks. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution assumes a total of 160 people with connections to Germany who also have connections to the Revolutionary Guards. It is unclear whether they are all in Germany.
