Spanish prosecutors: Islamic Republic was behind the attack on Vidal-Quadras

In an indictment dated 15 October 2026 and made public on Friday 23 October, prosecutors at Spain's National Court attributed the shooting of Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a former vice-president of the European Parliament, to a covert operation by the Islamic Republic's intelligence services against its opponents abroad. It is the first time Spanish prosecutors have directly linked the Madrid attack to the Islamic Republic in an official court document.

Vicente González Mota, the prosecutor in the case, is seeking 27 years in prison for Mehrez Ayari, the accused gunman, on charges of "terrorist attempted murder" and "membership of a criminal organisation". Prison terms of several years are also sought for his main accomplice in the escape and for several other defendants who played a role in surveillance and in providing a motorcycle, a car and phones. Sami Bekkal, whom the prosecution regards as the operation's coordinator, remains at large, and investigators believe he may be in Iran.

A broad-daylight attack in Madrid

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a founder of the Vox party, was shot in the face at close range on Núñez de Balboa street in Madrid on 9 November 2023. The bullet hit his jaw and he survived after surgery. The gunman fled on a motorcycle driven by his accomplice and was arrested months later in the Netherlands and handed over to Spain.

According to the prosecution, the aim of the attack was to punish Vidal-Quadras for his political activity against the Tehran government and to send a message to supporters of opposition movements. In October 2022, in response to European sanctions after the death of Mahsa Amini, the Islamic Republic's foreign ministry had put his name on its own sanctions list and accused him of "supporting terrorism". Vidal-Quadras has for years been a prominent supporter in Europe of the National Council of Resistance, the political wing of the People's Mojahedin Organisation (MEK).

A pattern of transnational repression

The Madrid case joins other cases opened by European courts in recent years over Islamic Republic plots to assassinate or abduct opponents and journalists on European soil. In many of these cases, as the Spanish prosecution also described, the operation was outsourced to hired criminal networks so that the direct trail of the intelligence apparatus would stay hidden.

The defendants are presumed innocent until a final verdict, and no trial date has yet been announced.

Spanish prosecutors formally consider the shooting of a European politician in Madrid to be the work of the Islamic Republic's intelligence services.