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court in Hamburg has sentenced two men to prison for planning attacks on Jewish leaders in Germany on behalf of the Iranian intelligence service. Both defendants were found guilty of espionage and attempted murder. One of them, a 54-year-old Danish national of Afghan origin, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, while the other, a 43-year-old Afghan living in Denmark, received a four and a half year sentence.

Prosecutors stated that the 54-year-old had received orders directly from Iran’s al-Quds Brigades, the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He had recruited his accomplice to carry out one of the attacks or to find someone who could. The 43-year-old was also tasked with finding a weapon to execute the attack.

Among the planned targets for attack were Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and Green Party politician Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society. Beck called for the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador and consular officials from Berlin following the release of the charges.

Both defendants were arrested by Danish authorities in the city of Aarhus last year and extradited to Germany. In addition to the attacks on high-profile individuals, the 54-year-old had made preparations for an arson attack on a kosher store in Berlin.