A dramatic tale of a terrorist plot foiled, from Peter Conradi in the Times. The notable point here is that the actions of the instigators are alleged to have been approved at the highest level in Tehran:
They looked like any couple out shopping as they walked across the Place d’Armes in Luxembourg’s old city and into a branch of Pizza Hut. But the police were watching closely.
It was the pivotal moment in a terrorist plot blamed on Iran that is about to be laid bare in court — to the fury of the regime in Tehran, which has threatened retaliation.
Once inside Pizza Hut, Amir Saadouni, 40, and his wife, Nasimeh Naami, 36 — both Iranian — sat down with an Iranian diplomat, who handed them a small package. Naami put it into her handbag and they returned to their grey Mercedes parked nearby.
This was no casual encounter, as the plainclothes officers watching them knew. The diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, 48, is thought to be a member of Iran’s intelligence service, and the package allegedly contained a powerful bomb.
Prosecutors say Assadi wanted the couple to plant it at a mass rally near Paris two days later attended by tens of thousands of opponents of Iran’s theocratic regime and by prominent British and American politicians.
The suspected Pizza Hut plot, which would have caused a mass loss of life if it had succeeded, was thwarted in an operation also involving Belgian, French and German police.
Next week, after a two-year investigation, the three suspects, together with a fourth man, are due to go on trial in Antwerp, where the couple lived, accused of terrorism offences.
Belgian investigators are convinced their actions were approved at the highest level in Tehran, which would make their conviction a serious embarrassment for the Iranians.
“The plan for the attack was conceived in the name of Iran and under its leadership. It was not a matter of Assadi’s personal initiative,” wrote Jaak Raes, head of the VSSE, Belgium’s state security service, in a letter to the federal prosecutor, one of many documents that reveal in extraordinary detail the planning that went into the alleged plot. [...]
Assadi has refused to co-operate with investigators, citing his diplomatic status, but his alleged fellow conspirators have been more forthcoming. Saadouni revealed he was first approached in 2012 by Assadi, who said he was looking for information about the MEK. They met in Munich, where the diplomat — whom he knew under the code name of Daniel — made clear he was working for Iranian intelligence.
The two men held several more meetings, including in Salzburg, Vienna, Milan, Venice and Luxembourg, at which Assadi paid Saadouni varying amounts of money — sometimes €3,500 (£3,140), and at other times €4,000, “depending on the type of information” he supplied. At Assadi’s behest, Saadouni also travelled in 2013 to the Iranian city of Ahvaz.
Often Naami would come on the trips, too. The couple appeared to have lived comfortably off the money. A pop music fan, Saadouni reportedly spent €400 on a ticket to see Roger Waters of Pink Floyd perform in Antwerp.
Yes, another clear indication of the kind of twisted, sad, confused people that get caught up in these terrorist plots. I mean....spending €400 on a ticket to see Roger Waters?
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Well, Waters is the anti-Semites' favorite rock star.
Posted by: Gene | November 16, 2020 at 12:25 AM