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Greece Blocks Iranian From Plotting to Arm Asylum Seekers

Anthee Carassava

   ATHENS - In Greece, the case of an Iranian migrant now jailed on
   charges of inciting an insurrection is highlighting the Greek
   government's rising concerns about a flare-up of clashes involving
   migrants along Greece's border with Turkey. Greek authorities say the
   Iranian man-- a self-described anarchist-- was urging groups in Greece
   to arm asylum seekers trying to enter Europe from Turkey. The man, if
   convicted, faces a stiff sentence of up to ten years in prison.

   Greek counter-terrorism forces say they arrested the 23-year-old
   Iranian national in central Athens after he posted a call for an armed
   insurrection on a website that is often visited by homegrown extremists
   and urban guerrilla groupings.

   Authorities say the unidentified man describes himself as a migrant
   anarchist and they say he has not denied the criminal charges set
   against him -- among the stiffest slapped on a migrant in recent years.
   Greek intelligence officials say Greece granted the man political
   asylum three years ago and that he has since then established a
   militant profile, linking up with a far-left extremist group in Greece.
   Left-wing groups in Greece have long supported asylum seekers,
   advocating their safe passage-- and their right to stay in Europe. But
   in his online calling, the Iranian went a step further, urging
   anarchists to help arm migrants, take to the streets and renew clashes
   with authorities in northern Greece to help tens of thousands trapped
   in Turkey stream in to Europe.
   Authorities in Athens say they have not established links between that
   plot and Turkey.
   But the Iranian's arrest here and the severity of the charges laid
   against him underscore Greece's desperate bid to stamp out any
   potential flare up of migrant clashes along the country's borders with
   Turkey.
   Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan flung open the borders to
   migrants heading for Europe in late February after dozens of Turkish
   soldiers were killed in an air raid in Syria.

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