German Court Accuses Individual Of Arson Linked To Iranian Regime
A court in Germany has levied accusations against an individual in connection with a fire that occurred in November 2022 at a school in the city of Bochum.
A court in Germany has levied accusations against an individual in connection with a fire that occurred in November 2022 at a school in the city of Bochum.
The defendant is alleged to have received directives from the Iranian government, with the primary target being a synagogue situated adjacent to the school.
The 36-year-old defendant, a dual Iranian-German citizen, is set to face trial on September 12th in the regional high court of Dusseldorf, as indicated by the official indictment. He has been charged with orchestrating an arson attack under the orders of Iranian government authorities, targeting a synagogue in the Ruhr region of western Germany.
Court documents reveal that the accused made unsuccessful attempts to recruit an acquaintance as an accomplice in executing the attack plan, with the acquaintance subsequently reporting the matter to law enforcement authorities.
The incident, which happened in mid-November, resulted in only minor damage. Since that time, the accused has remained in custody.
Prior to these developments, German media had referred to the accused as Babak J. and linked him to an earlier synagogue attack in the city of Essen, in November. Reports indicated that he had also been planning a third attack on a synagogue in Dortmund, where he was eventually apprehended.
The conservative Jomhuri Eslami reported last week that unofficial statistics indicate that last fall out of 300 babies born at the hospital of Kavar, a small town near Shiraz, capital of southern Fars province, 297 belonged to Afghan families.
According to the newspaper, which is one of the Islamic Republic’s oldest, the latest statistics also show that the number of Afghans in the province has risen to 357,000 from 121,000 since the Taliban took over the Afghan government in August 2021.
Officials say hundreds of Afghans are entering Iran daily from the eastern borders. Less than one million Afghans in Iran have refugee status, and most of the rest are illegal immigrants.
“Security officials must concerned that the presence of so many foreign nationals will entail many threats [to national security],” Jomhuri Eslami wrote. Iranian authorities and some media usually refer to Afghan immigrants and refugees as “foreign nationals.”
The article, extensively republished by other newspapers and websites, also referred to the involvement of two Afghan national in an attack on Shahcheragh shrine and mausoleum in Shiraz on October 26, 2022. Both men were publicly hanged on July 8.
In an unattributed commentary in July, Aftab News, a news website close to former President Hassan Rouhani and the moderate conservative Moderation and Development Party, also warned about what appears to be a massive increase in the number of Afghans in Iran and claimed that authorities are actively encouraging the growth of the Afghan population.
Aftab News alleged that factors such as a lack of control at eastern borders of the country, issuing thousands of tourist visas daily when applicants do not intend to return to their home country, automatic renewal of tourist, pilgrimage and other types of visas, elimination or reduction of cash fines for illegal entry and stay, indicate “targeted planning” by the authorities.
This may refer to some hardliner media openly promoting acceptance of more Afghans in Iran to increase the country’s population as a solution to the falling birth rate among Iranians when the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)linked Tasnim news agency suggested in 2022.
Iran's population growth rate has dropped to around 0.7 percent in the past few years.
“Acceptance of immigrants can be one of the key solutions to overcome the problem of [dwindling] population and workforce given the drop in the fertility rate in the country,” Tasnim said in an unattributed commentary entitled “Iran Forced to Accept Immigration of Foreign [Nationals] to Resolve Its [Dwindling] Population Problem” on May 19, 2020.
“The closeness of beliefs and culture of neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan, has provided an extraordinary opportunity to Iran in this regard,” the commentary said, presumably with an eye to accepting more Afghan Hazaras who are Shiites like Iranians.
Hazaras make up the biggest ethnic group among Afghan immigrants to Iran followed by Sunni Tajiks, Pashtuns and Uzbeks.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has repeatedly stressed that the country’s population should rise to at least 150 million, presumably to strengthen the only Shiite-ruled Muslim state.
Faraz Daily, an online newspaper, reported last week that there are now transportation companies that move commercial consignments and belongings of Afghan household to Tehran within a week from Kabul and Herat.
This, the newspaper argued “has been causing concerns in Iran because the illegal residence of these immigrants, in the absence of laws and policies to regulate their presence, will lead to numerous political, social and even security challenges,” Faraz Daily wrote.
