He remains under surveillance. The police custody of a sixty-year-old of Iranian origin suspected of having entered the Iranian consulate in Paris on Friday wearing a vest with dummy grenades was extended on Saturday, said a source close to the case. The investigation is open for a death threat materialized by the wearing of a fake vest representing explosives.
Friday around 2:50 p.m., this man, born in 1963 in Iran, was arrested while leaving the Iranian consulate, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, "where he allegedly made threats of committing violent acts." had reported the Paris prosecutor's office. He “came out on his own and no explosive material was observed at this stage, neither on him nor on site”, the same source continued.
According to a police source, the man was wearing a vest with large pockets containing three dummy offensive grenades. The investigations, entrusted to the 1st judicial police district, aim to “verify whether the elements constituting the offense are characterized and to understand the intention which motivated the suspect”, according to the prosecution.
Sentenced in October
On Friday, the Iranian consulate made a “request for intervention” to the police headquarters after the report of a man who “was seen by a single witness entering the consulate, rue de Fresnel, carrying a grenade or an explosive vest,” reported the police headquarters. A security perimeter had been set up around the consulate and significant police forces had been mobilized until the suspect was arrested.
In October, this man was sentenced by the Paris criminal court to eight months' imprisonment with suspended probation for having set fire to tires in front of the gates of the Iranian embassy on September 9, an act he had justified by his opposition to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This former prosthetist and orthotist, born in Tehran, was also banned from appearing in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, where the Iranian embassy is located, for two years, as well as a ban on carrying a weapon. He had appealed.