The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg on Thursday sentenced two men to multi‑year prison terms for espionage on behalf of Iran as well as for attempted participation in murder and serious arson. According to the court, the 54-year-old lead defendant Ali S. and his 43-year-old co‑defendant Tawab M. spied on potential targets in Germany on orders from state authorities of the Islamic Republic. Among the people targeted were Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and Volker Beck, a Green party politician, longtime LGBTQ+ activist, and currently president of the German‑Israeli Society (DIG).
Beck, Schuster, and Jewish businesses spied on
Ali S. traveled to Berlin in early 2025 on orders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). There, the court found, he specifically scoped out locations and gathered information about Beck and Schuster in order to map their movements and identify vulnerabilities. In addition to the two figures, two Jewish grocery stores in Berlin were also targeted by his surveillance.
By May 2025 Ali S. had contacted Tawab M., an Afghan national living in Denmark. M. agreed to act as an intermediary: his concrete task was to obtain a firearm for an as‑yet‑unknown third party and to instruct that person to carry out the killing of Volker Beck.
There was no execution. After indications from the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad, Danish police arrested Ali S. in June 2025 in Aarhus. Tawab M. was arrested in November 2025. Both were subsequently extradited to Germany and charged.
Beck reacted on Thursday afternoon on the platform X to the verdict: “You are convicted! The Iran has impressively shown how it brings its terror to Germany, the court says.”
You are convicted!
The Iran has impressively shown how it brings its terror to Germany, says the court.Volker Beck (@Volker_Beck) October 15, 2026
Beck had become a target of the Islamist regime because, since 2022, he has led the German‑Israeli Society and publicly advocates for Israel’s right to exist and against antisemitism. Beck has also repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the right‑wing and ultra‑religious coalition partners in his government.
Most recently, Beck was in the headlines because he advised his party not to enter a red‑green‑red coalition in Berlin, with the justification that the Berlin Left had not sufficiently repudiated antisemitism. (TheColu.mn reported).
