A Chronology of Tehran's Kidnappings and Killings Abroad: Part 3

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s tactics of transnational repression have changed in the last 10 years. This is also true of the state’s well-known pattern of killing and kidnapping Iranian political opponents overseas. More recently, at least two cases have targeted those close to, or beneficiaries of, the system itself: people often referred to by Iranians as “insiders”.

Compared to the chain murders of the late 1980s and 1990s there have also been fewer documented killings abroad by the Islamic Republic in the last decade. The state also uses more non-Iranian nationals to commit these crimes, making it harder to apportion blame directly to the Islamic Republic. But at the same time, the number of kidnappings of Iranian citizens – and their forcible return to Iran – has risen.

In two previous articles, IranWire examined the targeting of dissidents in the time of Ayatollah Khomeini's rule and the first period of Ali Khamenei's leadership. This third instalment takes in some of the incidents recorded in the last 10 years.

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Tom Anderson, thought assassinated in Dubai on November 12, 2011

The eldest son of Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who now serves in Ebrahim Raisi’s cabinet, businessman Ahmad Rezaei Mirghaed – who later changed his name Tom J. Anderson – fled Iran in the late 1990s and was granted asylum in the US, where he vocally criticized the regime. He had come back to visit Iran in 2005 without repercussions, but on November 12, 2011, his body was found in a hotel room in Dubai Media City. The cause of death was an overdose of anti-psychotic medication. Dubai police pronounced the death not suspicious, but a special homicide investigator in Tehran told the media it had been murder, due to his “disclosure of confidential information”.

Abbas Yazdanpanah Yazdi, abducted in Dubai on June 25, 2013

Abbas Yazdanpanah Yazdi, a British-Iranian businessman in his 40s said to have had a childhood friendship with Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, vanished in the UAE in summer 2013, leading to a 12-week manhunt. Before the incident he had been planning to sue the UK’s Serious Fraud Office for providing information about his business concerns to Iranian prosecutors. Six Iranian citizens were arrested in connection with the case and 18 months later, Dubai police said they believed the Islamic Republic had had Yazdi abducted and taken back to Iran. The six were tried on charges of complicity in the kidnapping, but their names were never revealed to the public.

Mohammad Reza Kolahi, assassinated in Almere on December 15, 2015

A member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK), Mohammad Reza Kolahi had been accused in Iran of planting a bomb that left 73 dead at the Islamic Republic Party’s headquarters. He fled for Europe in 1981 and had lived a quiet, self-contained life in the Netherlands working as an electrician, under the pseudonym Ali Motamed. He was shot dead at close range by two men later revealed to be contract killers, paid 130,000 euros by a notorious gangster who arranged murders for cash. The defendants were sentenced to 20 and 25 years in prison respectively in 2019.

 

Saeed Karimian,‌ assassinated in Istanbul on April 29, 2017

The owner of popular Persian-language channel Gem TV, Saeed Karimian was gunned down together with his Kuwaiti business partner after enduring years of threats from the regime over the content of his broadcasts. It later emerged his family members in Iran had even been temporarily held hostage in Tehran in a bid to force his channel off air. In May 2017, Turkish media reported that two unnamed individuals had been arrested in Serbia in connection with the killing, with fake passports and on their way to Iran.

Ahmad Mola Nissi, assassinated in The Hague on November 9, 2017

Ahmad Mola Nissi founded the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz in 1999. He was shot dead in front of his home in the Netherlands, aged 52. In late 2019 a Moroccan-Dutch suspected crime boss, Ridouan Taghi, was arrested in Dubai and extradited to the Netherlands. Taghi is accused of involvement in at least 10 killings, and also of being the link between Tehran and the already-convicted murderers of Mohammad Ali Kolahi in December 2015. The trial is still ongoing.

Bomb plot targeting MEK rally in Paris, June 2018

In summer 2018 Asadollah Asadi, the former third secretary of the embassy of the Iranian Embassy in Austria, was dramatically arrested for his role in a plot to bomb a 25,000-strong MEK gathering in the French capital. Asadi had been caught on his way back to Austria after handing the explosive device over to accomplices Nasim Naami and Amir Saadoni. The three together with a fourth collaborator, Mehrdad Arefani, were tried and jailed by a Belgian court in February 2021. It was the first time in the 40-year history of the Islamic Republic that one of its diplomats had been imprisoned on terrorism charges.

Gholamreza Mansouri, thought assassinated in Bucharest on June 19, 2020

Judge Gholamreza Mansouri went on the run after being accused of bribery corruption in Iran to the tune of 500,000 euros. During his judicial career, Mansouri is understood to have been involved in the persecution of Iranian journalists as well as the hostage-taking of Saeed Karimian’s family. He was arrested by Romanian police and released under investigation after a complaint from a private plaintiff in London. But on June 19, his body was found at the bottom of a stairwell in his hotel. His family have interpreted the death as murder. No-one has been arrested in connection with the death.

Jamshid Sharmahd, abducted in Dubai between July 28 and August 1, 2020

German-Iranian father-of-two Jamshid Sharmahd had become the main spokesman for opposition group Kingdom of Assembly Iran, also known as Tondar, in the late 2000s. He had become stuck in Europe during the pandemic due to visa problems, and struck out for Mumbai, India, but disappeared from his hotel room during a stop-off in Dubai.  Shortly afterward the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence publicly celebrated its detention of a “terrorist ringleader” and Sharmahd was made to give a forced confession on TV. So far he has not been tried in Iran, but remains in prison.

Ruhollah Zam, abducted in 2019 and executed on December 12, 2020 in Tehran

Ruhollah Zam, director of the dissident Telegram channel Amad News, lived in Paris with his wife and two children. He was abducted in Baghdad in October 2019 after being lured there on false pretences by IRGC agents. Zam was first transferred to Syria, then Iran, where he was sentenced to death on multiple charges including “corruption on earth” by Judge Abolghasem Salavati. He was executed by hanging in December 2020.

Habib Chaab, abducted in Istanbul on October 9, 2020

Habib Chaab, also Habib Asyud, is an Iranian-Swedish citizen and the former leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz. According to Turkish police, he was lured to Turkey on the promise of a romantic rendezvous, then bundled into a van, drugged and driven more than 1,600km to the Iranian border. The team involved in the kidnapping was allegedly directed by Nasser Sharifi Zindashti, a notorious drug trafficker, on the orders of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.

Masih Alinejad, evaded abduction in New York, first reported July 13, 2021

This summer the FBI announced it had thwarted an Iranian state-backed plot to kidnap human rights activist Masih Alinejad from Brooklyn, New York and transfer her to Venezuela by speedboat for extradition to Iran. Four people thought to be living in Iran were indicted in absentia, including one man described as an “intelligence agent”. They had already conducted extensive surveillance of Alinejad’s home by the time the scheme was interrupted. A fifth person living in California was arrested on July 1 in connection with the case.

Related coverage:

A Chronology of Tehran's Kidnappings and Killings Abroad: Part 2

A Chronology of Tehran's Kidnappings and Killings Abroad: Part 1

Transnational Repression: How Iran Haunts and Kills its Critics Around the World

Diplomat Assassins: Who Does Iran Kill Abroad and Why?

Covid-19 Claims the Life of a Traitor Assassin

Holy Terror: Iran's Criminal Record from Germany to Ethiopia

Abductions and Murder Through Embassies: The Islamic Republic's Terrorism Abroad

Iran Mourns Death of Lebanese Terrorist

Decoding Iran’s Politics: The Intelligence Ministry’s Alleged Operations in the EU

Decoding Iran’s Politics: Iranian Embassies and Terrorism Allegations