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Danish national suspected of spying for Iran on Jewish targets in Berlin, prosecutors say

A Danish national has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran with the aim of collecting information on Jewish sites and individuals in Berlin, German prosecutors said on Tuesday.

They said the man, who they named as only Ali S under German privacy law, spied on three properties in June in preparation for further intelligence activities, including possibly attacks on Jewish targets.

He is suspected to have received his orders from Iranian intelligence services in early 2025, prosecutors said.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, the suspect took photos of houses, including the headquarters of the German-Israeli Society.

After being transferred from neighbouring Denmark, the suspect will be brought before an investigating judge of Germany’s Federal Court of Justice, prosecutors said.

The suspect was remanded in custody until July 23, pending extradition to Germany, Denmark’s PET national security and intelligence service said in a statement.

The Danish foreign ministry and justice ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Iranian embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said last month, during the air war between Iran and Israel, that Germany was prepared for Iran targeting Israeli or Jewish targets in the country, without going into detail.

Incident Details

Type of Incident: Arrest
Date of Incident: July 1, 2025
City: Copenhagen
Country: Germany, Denmark

About Sentinel

SENTINEL is a European project funded by the European Commission and led by the Security and Crisis Centre (SACC by EJC), the security arm of the European Jewish Congress. It brings together the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), national-level Jewish communities from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Spain, the European Union of Jewish Students, with the support of the Italian Carabinieri and the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic.

The project is designed to strengthen the protection of Jewish places of worship across the European Union through a coordinated set of activities over a three-year period.

SENTINEL will harness AI-enhanced open-source intelligence to monitor and assess current, emerging, and future threats. It will also equip Jewish communities with practical tools, including a mobile security application with a panic button and an interactive map built on real-time incident data.

Training and capacity-building are at the core of the project. These include scenario-based security exercises, crisis management seminars, and both in-person and online training sessions for community security trustees. SENTINEL will also organise EU-wide and local conferences to foster collaboration between Jewish communities, public authorities, and law enforcement agencies.

Complementing these efforts, national and local workshops will promote knowledge-sharing and preparedness, alongside pilot training programmes for law enforcement. A dedicated podcast series will help raise awareness by exploring threat assessments and potential responses.

With its wide-reaching and inclusive approach, SENTINEL will directly benefit to Jewish communities across 23 EU Member States, enhancing resilience, strengthening preparedness, and building long-term cooperation with law enforcement to meet today’s evolving security challenges.