BERLIN: German authorities searched premises linked to 10 suspected Iranian spies following extensive investigations by the country’s domestic intelligence agency, prosecutors said Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Federal Prosecutors Office said the raids took place early Tuesday at private homes and offices across Germany.
“We believe the suspects spied on institutions and persons in Germany at the behest of an intelligence unit associated with Iran,” spokesman Stefan Biehl told The Associated Press.
He declined to comment on a report by weekly magazine Focus that the suspects were spying on Israelis in Germany.
The investigation was prompted by a tip from Germany’s domestic intelligence service, said Biehl, adding that no arrests had been made yet.
Germany’s Interior Ministry referred questions about the raids to federal prosecutors.
Last month, the German government protested to the Iranian ambassador following the conviction of an Iranian agent for spying. The Pakistani man was convicted in Berlin last year of espionage and sentenced to more than four years in prison. His targets included Reinhold Robbe, who headed the German-Israeli Association.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said Iranian ambassador Ali Majedi was summoned just before Christmas and told that “spying on people and institutions with a particular relationship to the state of Israel on German soil is a blatant violation of German law.”
Germany conducts searches against 10 suspected Iranian spies
Germany conducts searches against 10 suspected Iranian spies
Most of Iranian women’s soccer team leave Australia
GOLD COAST: The Iranian women’s soccer team left Australia without seven squad members after tearful protests of their departure outside Sydney Airport and frantic final efforts inside the terminal by Australian officials, who sought to ensure the women understood they were being offered asylum.
As the team’s flight time drew nearer and they passed through security late on Tuesday, each woman was taken aside to meet alone with officials who explained through interpreters that they could choose not to return to Iran.
Before the team traveled to the airport, seven women had accepted humanitarian visas allowing them to remain permanently in Australia and were ushered to a safe location by Australian police officers.
One has since changed her mind, underscoring the tense and precarious nature of their decisions.
“In Australia, people are able to change their mind,” said Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who had hours earlier posted photos of the seven women granted humanitarian visas to his social media accounts, their identities clearly visible.
After what Burke described as “emotional” meetings between the remaining women who reached the airport and Australian officials, the rest of the team declined offers of asylum and boarded their flight.
It was a dramatic conclusion to an episode that had gripped Australia since the Iranian team’s first game at the Asian Cup soccer tournament, when they remained silent during their national anthem.
