Details of 'Iran-Related' Plot to Attack a Jewish Center in Greece

Amid escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, Reuters has published an exclusive report on another case of alleged terrorist plots in the West attributed to the Iranian government. According to the report, at least 33 such incidents have occurred in Western countries since 2020, with this particular case intended to take place last year at a Jewish center in Athens, the capital of Greece. Case documents reveal that a Pakistani named Syed Fakhar Abbas encouraged an old acquaintance in Greece to attack this location from within Iran, claiming to work for a group that pays about 15,000 euros for each kill. In a WhatsApp conversation detailed in the documents from January 2023, the two discussed using explosives or arson for the attack, with Abbas emphasizing the need to provide evidence of casualties after the attack and mentioning the involvement of a 'secret organization.' Reuters noted that the case documents include hundreds of pages of evidence collected during judicial investigations in Greece, including witness testimonies, police statements, and details of WhatsApp messages. These documents show how Abbas was preparing his Pakistani acquaintance in Athens, named Syed Irtaza Haider, to carry out the attacks. Greek authorities arrested Haider and another Pakistani last year, announcing that they had dismantled a terrorist network directed from abroad that intended to 'inflict human casualties.' Both men face terrorism-related charges and insist on their innocence. Haider, who was conditionally released from pre-trial detention this spring, told Reuters that he sent images of the building to Abbas but deliberately avoided carrying out any attack, hoping to receive money without harming anyone: 'Everything was just talk, not action.' Abbas, identified as the main mastermind in this case, is already wanted in Pakistan for murder. Greek police declined to comment on the case, which is awaiting a judicial decision for further prosecution. The Israeli intelligence service Mossad, which assisted in the Greek investigation, claims that the attack was designed as part of a multinational network under orders from Iran. However, the Israeli government has refrained from commenting on the case or other Mossad activities. The Iranian government has also denied Mossad's claims, but according to Reuters, the operational methods resemble patterns seen in other alleged Iranian-related plots, including the type of target - Israeli or Jewish civilians - and the use of non-Iranian hired assassins. Burt Holmgren, head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, stated: 'Since 2020, Iran has significantly escalated deadly plots against former U.S. officials, Iranian dissidents, and Jewish and Israeli interests in the U.S. and other countries.' The Iranian delegation to the United Nations told Reuters that the Islamic Republic has 'no intention or plan to engage in assassination or kidnapping operations, whether in the West or elsewhere,' labeling such claims as 'fabricated' aimed at 'diverting attention from the crimes of the Israeli regime.' Reuters' examination of Iran's activities in this regard includes incidents that are alleged or identified as being planned by the Iranian government or carried out on its behalf, or directed by someone in Iran or closely connected to it. One of the main methods among the alleged plots examined by Reuters is the use of hired assassins, including professional criminals and gang members. Washington and its allies claim that this outsourcing is intended to conceal connections with the Islamic Republic. In December, a German court sentenced a German-Iranian man to two years and nine months in prison for planning to set fire to a synagogue, stating he was hired by a man living in Iran who receives orders from 'governmental institutions.' The Islamic Republic has also dismissed this accusation as 'baseless.' At least six of the plots that Reuters has examined in Europe since 2020 have included Israeli or Jewish targets, and in nearly all of these cases, it has been claimed that they were carried out with hired assassins. In the case related to Greece, Abbas contacted Haider from Iran. According to legal documents that Reuters claims to have reviewed, Haider was living in Greece as an undocumented immigrant. He told Reuters that he and Abbas had known each other for a long time, both hailing from the city of Alipur in Punjab, eastern Pakistan. Haider also informed Greek authorities that both are Shia Muslims. According to Haider's account to the investigating judge and WhatsApp messages in the legal documents, the two had been in contact since April 2022. In a WhatsApp conversation in November 2022, they discussed the targets and methods of deadly attacks. Abbas told Haider to emphasize to other recruits how much the group was willing to pay: 'The reward for each head is five million rupees.' The two men frequently talked about money. According to WhatsApp archives, Haider constantly urged Abbas to send money. Abbas complained in December 2022 that he couldn't pay his rent and had to borrow money. He wrote to Haider that 'when the job is done, we won't need money for the rest of our lives.' At the end of 2022, Abbas asked Haider to take pictures of Chabad Athens. Chabads are centers established by the 'Chabad' movement, a branch of Hasidic Judaism, around the world to serve Jews and local communities. Chabad Athens is a two-story building located on a busy street in the capital, which includes a Jewish center that serves as both a place of worship and a kosher restaurant. Haider told judicial authorities that he received help from a third person to take photos and videos of this building in December 2022. This third person also told authorities that he was unaware that this building was a Jewish center and only later did Haider offer him payment for a murder, which he immediately rejected. In early January 2023, Haider went to Athens and took videos of Chabad Athens and its surroundings, sending them to Abbas. Haider told the case judge that he was pressured by Abbas to commit murder, so he arranged a fake murder to deceive him; he convinced a Nepali man in Athens with a promise of 2,500 euros to play the role of a victim in a staged execution. According to the testimony of this Nepali man recorded in the documents, Haider dressed him in bloody clothing (from goat blood) and told him to lie on the ground and pretend to be dead so he could film him. When the attack was discovered and thwarted, investigators said that by the second week of January 2023, Abbas and Haider were focused on the Chabad restaurant in Athens. Messages indicate that Abbas had suggested arson. On January 9, Abbas wrote, 'Do whatever you can, do it sooner, they won't give me much time.' Haider replied, 'It will be done, I promise.' However, within weeks, security forces intervened. Greek police raided Haider's apartment and arrested him for possessing fake identity documents. Prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges against him the following month. After his arrest, Haider, in his official statement, described the group that Abbas had recruited him to, without naming it, as a large organization based in Iran. Haider, awaiting trial, told Reuters he has two jobs; one in the kitchen of a restaurant and another as a guard. He has sleep problems and may face a prison sentence. But if he is acquitted of the charges, returning home is not an option for him, as he fears retaliation from Abbas or his organization.