BERLIN: A Pakistani man accused of spying for Iran went on trial in Germany on Wednesday, for allegedly searching out potential attack targets for the Revolutionary Guards.

The accused, named only as 31-year-old Haidar Syed M., remained silent — “out of fear”, according to his defence lawyer.

He is accused of espionage “against Germany and ano­ther Nato member”, France, for the Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Prosecutors said he had compiled dossiers on possible attack targets — a German lawmaker who is a former head of a German-Israeli organisation, and a French-Israeli professor of economics.

The Karachi-born Haidar came to Germany as a student in 2012 and most recently lived in Bremen.

He had allegedly been in contact since 2011 with an Iranian named Mehmud who worked for the Quds Force, the court was told.

The Pakistani man had travelled to Iran at least twice, in October 2015 and February last year, and received at least $2,166 for his intelligence activities.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2017