New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) Israel has asked India that the terrorists who attacked an Israeli diplomat’s wife in Delhi two years ago be brought to book even as the case is pending in a court here.
Two years ago, Tal Yehoshua Koren, an Israeli diplomat’s wife, along with a friend and a colleague, was on her way to pick up her two children from school in the heart of New Delhi when her car was attacked by a bomb.
Tal, wife of Israeli Defence Attache Colonel Yossi Refaelov, and the Indian driver of the embassy vehicle were among four people injured in the blast caused by a magnetic bomb stuck to her vehicle by a motorcycle-borne man.
An Indian journalist, Syed Mohammad Kazmi, has been charged in the case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Explosives Act and other sections of the IPC.
Describing Kazmi’s role as a person who was used as a tool by the Iranian suspects, police have claimed he took money in lieu of providing assistance and had helped in conducting the recce of the Israeli embassy and provided his Maruti Alto for this.
Kazmi was granted bail by the Supreme Court Oct 19, 2012. Kazmi in October last year had moved the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the transfer of his case from Tis Hazari to Patiala house court till the charges are framed. The case is still pending in the high court.
He had said that in Tis Hazari court the hearing of arguments on framing of charges in the case is in the last stage and it is unfair to transfer the case at this stage.
As the case of transfer is pending in the high court, the arguments on framing of charges against Kazmi is languishing in its final stage.
The Israeli government alleged that the “agents of the government of Iran had tried to assassinate her”.
Kazmi was arrested and four arrest warrants were issued against Iranian culprits who escaped.
“The terrorists who committed this heinous attack in Delhi and the government of Iran that sent them must be made accountable,” the Israeli embassy said in a statement Thursday.
Tal is still recovering from the attack. Her driver and two bystanders, all Indian citizens, were also injured.
“This terrorist action is yet another chapter in a well-documented global campaign of the Iranian government to kill Jews, Israelis and especially Israeli diplomats. In all of their attempts, it was clear that the Iranian agents use any means necessary to achieve their goal, even at the risk of life and limb of non-Israeli peaceful civilians. The Israeli government is grateful for the security India is providing for Israeli diplomats in order to prevent events like this from happening again,” the statement said.
The statement also said that “earlier this year, two Iranians were convicted in Thailand and sentenced for life and for 15 years respectively following their attempt to assassinate Israeli diplomats in the Thai capital, an attack that took place a day after the attack in New Delhi.
“Their act was a part of an ongoing Iranian terror campaign that targets Israeli and other objectives. This is evidenced, among other things, by the use of identical explosives in the near simultaneous attacks which were carried out by Iranian terrorists in Bangkok, New Delhi and also in Tbilisi, Georgia,” the statement added.