A German-Afghan ex-translator from the German army was sentenced on Monday to six years and ten months in prison for spying for Iran, the Koblenz district court said. His wife, who appeared free, was given a suspended ten-month sentence, the court said in a statement.
The man, identified as Abdul S., 51, was found guilty of "treason in a particularly serious case" . Employed as a civilian interpreter by the Bundeswehr at the Heinrich-Hertz barracks in Daun, near Koblenz, the German-Afghan was found guilty of "transferring military secrets to Iranian intelligence personnel" .
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Imprisoned for one year, accused facing life sentence of at least 15 years in prison in Germany, but judges said they took into account that the two had confessed to the facts and had a clean criminal record before .
In concrete terms, the judges found it to be true that, from 28 January 2013, he met Iranian secret service agents at least eight times in different European cities to give them documents from the German army, in particular assessments and analyzes. military situations in some countries, the court said. These meetings stopped at the beginning of February 2017 and contacts were interrupted on his initiative. For his information, he received some 34,500 euros.
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His wife had knowledge of her husband's activities at least from the beginning of 2016 and notably gave him logistical support by booking his trips. However, the court could not establish the motivations which led this man to deliver information to the Iranian agents.
The trial opened in January and was immediately placed under state secrecy. Thus the public and the media were not allowed to listen to the full statement of the indictment for "reasons of state security", said the president of the court, Thomas Bergmann.
