German court jails two for spying on Jewish targets for Iran

A German court on Thursday sentenced two men to several years in prison on charges of spying for Iran. 

The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg also found the two men, who both live in Denmark, guilty of attempted involvement in murder and aggravated arson. 

One defendant, 54, received eight and a half years in prison, while his 43-year-old co-conspirator received four and a half years. 

The two men were accused of spying on the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, and the president of the German-Israeli Society, Volker Beck. 

The court also found that the 54-year-old had made preparations for an arson attack on a kosher food shop in Berlin.

According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the 54-year-old Dane with Afghan roots received his orders directly from officers of the al-Quds Brigades, the foreign unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

He then contacted the 43-year-old to recruit him for an attack on Beck - or at least persuade him to find another person for it. The prosecutors said they eventually agreed on the latter.

The two men were detained last year by Danish police in Aarhus on Germany's behalf. 

The verdict matched the demands of the Federal Prosecutor's Office. The defence lawyers had demanded acquittals.