Iran Arrests ‘Assassination Cell’ Linked to Israel

Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib (left) and head of the judiciary's security department Ali Abdollahi. (Mizan)
Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib (left) and head of the judiciary's security department Ali Abdollahi. (Mizan)
TT

Iran Arrests ‘Assassination Cell’ Linked to Israel

Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib (left) and head of the judiciary's security department Ali Abdollahi. (Mizan)
Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib (left) and head of the judiciary's security department Ali Abdollahi. (Mizan)

Iranian security forces arrested a terrorist cell linked to Israel in the northwestern region of the country, said an official at the security department in the Iranian judiciary.

Fourteen members of the cell were arrested in West Azerbaijan province, said head of the security department Ali Abdollahi, according to the Mizan agency that is affiliated with the judiciary.

Abdollahi revealed that the terrorist cell had plotted to assassinate several figures.

Last week, the intelligence ministry said it had arrested members of an "espionage" network on charges of collaborating with a foreign intelligence agency to obtain information about Iranians traveling abroad.

Tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv escalated after Iran made progress in its program to enrich uranium by 60 percent, at a rate close to weapons-grade.

Iran accused Israel of carrying out assassinations of scientists and officials in its nuclear program, as well as targeting its atomic facilities.

On May 21, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said the security services arrested a "terrorist" group linked to Israel on the western border with Iraq, calling on the Iraqi government to cooperate.

Head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) ground forces Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour threatened to resume bombing Iraqi Kurdistan if Baghdad did not implement a security agreement both countries signed in March.

Meanwhile, newly appointed Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian received Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem al-Araji in Tehran.

Ahmadian called for the urgent need to activate the agreement.



Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That's why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

- 'Carried out raids' -

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organized by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We've carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We're not arresting general students, only those who vandalized government properties and set them on fire."