Malaysia to extradite Iranian for attack on Israelis

Thai police suspect Iranian national of involvement in terrorist attack targeting Israeli diplomats in Bangkok earlier this year.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Thai police escort Iranian terror suspect 390 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa)
Thai police escort Iranian terror suspect 390 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa)
A Malaysian court on Monday authorized the extradition to Thailand of an Iranian citizen suspected in carrying out an attack targeting Israeli diplomats in Bangkok.
The suspect, Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh, fled to Malaysia following the attack and was being held in custody there by authorities.
Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh, 31, will be sent back to Thailand unless his lawyers file an appeal within 15 days, prosecution lawyers said. Masoud was arrested in Malaysia the day after the blasts as he attempted to board a flight to Iran, police said.
Three bombs went off in Bangkok on Feb. 14. The first was apparently an accidental blast at a house that Masoud was sharing with two other Iranian suspects. Another bomb was thrown at a taxi and a third blew off the leg of an Iranian man before he was arrested by police. Another Iranian suspect was arrested at Bangkok's main airport but Masoud managed to escape to Malaysia.
The previous day in the Indian capital, a bomber travelling by motorcycle attached an explosive device to the car of an Israeli diplomat's wife, wounding here. That attack came hours after an attempt to bomb an Israeliembassy car in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Following the attacks, Thai security authorities announced that they had discovered a “direct connection” linking the attacks against Israeli diplomats in Georgia and India with an Iranian terrorist cell apprehended in Bangkok.
Further evidence that Iran was involved in bomb plots against Israeli envoys emerged from a multinational probe, British newspaper The Guardian reported last week.
Reuters contributed to this report