BERLIN — German prosecutors have slapped two Iranian men with spying charges against exiled opposition members for Iranian intelligence.
Federal prosecutors said Friday that the indictment against 31-year-old Maysam P. and 33-year-old Saied R. was filed on March 22 at a Berlin court. The two men’s full names weren’t given in keeping with German privacy rules.
Prosecutors say both men once belonged to the opposition group known as the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, or MEK.
However, they say that Maysam P. was working by January 2013 and Saied R. by August 2014 for an Iranian intelligence service and that they were tasked with obtaining information on members of the MEK and its National Council of Resistance Iran (NCRI) arm in Germany and other European Union countries.
An NCRI statement issued April 9, 2016 stipulates that there is sufficient suspicion to establish that Maysam Panahi from January 2013 and Saeid Rahmani from August 2014 have been working for Iran’s secret service. Their mission was to obtain information on the PMOI and NCRI. In particular they passed on information on the members of PMOI in Germany or other EU countries to their interlocutors in this intelligence service. According to prosecutor’s statement, Panahi has been in detention since 28 October 2015. In the prosecutor’s statement of October 28 it is stated that Panahi received money from the Iranian intelligence (MOIS) in return for his espionage activities.
The NCRI concludes that the MOIS tries to discredit PMOI and NCRI through propaganda activities. Acquiring information on PMOI members, especially members that have left Iraq for Europe, is a focal point of the espionage and surveillance activities of the Iranian regime.
The Iranian Resistance welcomes the fact that German prosecutor has brought the case of espionage targeting PMOI and NCRI to justice and calls on the German government and relevant officials to disclose and make public details of the case of espionage and illegal activities of the Iranian regime and its paid hands in Germany. This is an imperative step to prevent these criminal activities.
The Iranian Resistance also strongly warns of the perils of the presence of MOIS agents in European countries and the United States for the security of Iranian refugees. In particular it urges Germany and other EU member states to implement the April 1997 decision of the EU Council to try, punish and expel the intelligence agents and paid hands of the religious fascism ruling Iran.
Sources: AP and NCRI statement, April 9th, 2016