Waterloo Region Record

France raids groups over alleged bomb plot near Paris

Also freeze the assets of four organizati­ons and Iranian Intelligen­ce Ministry’s internal security section

- ELAINE GANLEY

PARIS — French authoritie­s on Tuesday froze the assets of the internal security section of Iran’s Intelligen­ce Ministry as well as those of two Iranians, and all but pointed a finger at Tehran as the force behind an alleged plot to bomb an Iranian exile group’s rally near Paris.

Police also raided the headquarte­rs of a Muslim religious associatio­n in northern France, seizing weapons and detaining three people. The building houses a Shiite federation, an antiZionis­t party and other groups. The assets of the groups and their leaders were frozen as well.

A joint statement by France’s interior, economy and foreign ministers made clear the sixmonth freeze on the Intelligen­ce Ministry’s internal security section was linked to the alleged attempt to bomb the June 30 rally outside Paris of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, or MEK.

“An attempted attack was thwarted,” the statement said. “This act of an extreme gravity envisioned on our territory could not go without a response.”

The ministers called the action “preventati­ve, targeted and proportion­ate.” The statement did not explain what funds might be in France.

In the second move, authoritie­s froze the assets of Centre Zahra France, a Muslim associatio­n in the town of Grande-Synthe, outside Dunkirk, as well as those of three organizati­ons and four men linked to the groups.

The three groups are under Zahra France’s wing and include the Shiite Federation of France and the Anti-Zionist Party.

One of Zahra France’s leaders, Yahia Gouasmi, is president of the Anti-Zionist Party, In 2010, he met with the leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah at its base in Lebanon.

The year before, he met in Tehran with then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadineja­d, who predicted Israel’s demise.

Responding to Tuesday’s events, Gouasmi, 68, told reporters, “It’s Israel that’s behind this.”

One of the two Iranians targeted in the freeze of the Intelligen­ce Ministry section was Assadollah Asadi, a Vienna-based Iranian diplomat who is a suspect in the alleged attack on exile group MEK’s rally. Assadi was arrested in July near the German city of Aschaffenb­urg after a couple with Iranian roots was stopped in Belgium and authoritie­s reported finding powerful explosives in their car. A German court Monday approved the diplomat’s extraditio­n to Belgium.

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