Turkish authorities have arrested an employee of the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, Muhammad Reza Nasir Zadeh, on suspicion of his involvement in the assassination of Iranian dissident Masoud Mawlawi in 2019 in the Sisli district of Istanbul.
Turkish media indicated that Nasir Zadeh is accused of forging official papers, to help members of the assassination team return to Iran after the execution of the operation.
The Istanbul Public Prosecution Office is continuing investigations into the case of the assassination of an Iranian citizen specialized in the technological field by shooting him from inside a car on November 14, 2019.
Turkish security forces arrested Nasir Zadeh after issuing an arrest warrant as part of the ongoing investigations into the case.
The suspect rejected the accusations against him, for assisting one of the persons involved in the assassination by fleeing to Iran by organizing forged documents for him, indicating that he was not in Turkey at the date of the crime.
Since the assassination, the Turkish authorities managed to arrest 11 people and charged them with murder. After they were brought before the court, it decided to arrest 7 of them pending investigations, and to release the others, provided that judicial control is applied to them.