On August 1, Iranian police re-arrested Helmut Hofer,...

On August 1, Iranian police re-arrested Helmut Hofer, "because of his connections with some suspicious foreign elements and the fear of his escaping from Iran," judicial spokesman Saeed Nobari said. Relations between Iran and Germany have been tense since 1997, when a German court implicated the Iranian authorities in the murders of Kurdish political activists in Berlin. Furthermore, during President Khatami's visit to Italy and the Vatican in March his German visit was canceled, partly due to tension over the Hofer case. "It was perhaps too early for this kind of visit," a German spokesman said.