Contacted by telephone via encrypted messaging, he spoke from an undisclosed location where he was placed for his safety. The life of Siamak Tadayon Tahmasbi, an Iranian activist who has taken refuge in the Netherlands, is under threat. On June 6, this independent journalist, widely followed in Iran, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
A month earlier, on May 2, he had surprised an attempted intrusion into his apartment in Haarlem, not far from Amsterdam. Knowing he was threatened, he said he then spent thirty nights without sleeping, smoking incessantly, barely eating, his eyes glued to the video surveillance images, waiting for those who were to come and kill him. After a month of insomnia, two silhouettes appeared on the control screen before attempting to cross the balcony of his home.
Siamak Tadayon Tahmasbi had time to alert the police. The two intruders were immediately arrested “in possession of firearms”specified to Monde the prosecution of the Northern region of the Netherlands: one is of Colombian nationality, the second, Mehrez Ayari, is a 38-year-old Tunisian delinquent who grew up and lived in France, in Villejuif precisely, in Val-de- Marl. His arrest put an end to a dizzying headlong rush that lasted nearly two years, as revealed The world on June 19.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers The “Sunflowers” affair: the Villejuif trafficker, the terrorist attack in Spain and the shadow of Iran
Add to your selections
Wanted since August 2022 by the French police for the murder of a small cannabis trafficker from Val-d’Oise, Mehrez Ayari in fact became during his run on the run the main suspect in the assassination attempt on a politician. Spanish, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, who miraculously survived a bullet shot in the face in the streets of Madrid, November 9, 2023. Founder of the far-right party Vox and former vice-president of the European Parliament, Mr. Vidal -Quadras is also a historic supporter of the Iranian opposition.
The hand of Tehran
The identity of Siamak Tadayon Tahmasbi had until now remained a secret. ” very sensitive “, protected by European police: it reinforces the hypothesis that, behind the Villejuif delinquent suspected of having been recruited as a hitman, it is indeed the hand of Tehran which is hidden behind these two failed assassination projects in Spain and the Netherlands.
If Siamak Tadayon Tahmasbi wanted to tell his story, it is above all because he is convinced that his media coverage will strengthen his security. “When I learned of his profile [celui de Mehrez Ayari]I was half happy because the police had arrested a big fish, and half worried, because it meant that the Islamic Republic really wanted to kill me: they had sent a professional”he confides.
You have 61.44% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
