Overview

• Mehrez Ayari, a 38-year-old French citizen of Tunisian origin, was handed over to Spanish prosecutors on June 20 after a year in Dutch custody.
• Authorities identified Ayari as the assailant through security camera footage captured near Vidal-Quadras’s Madrid residence on November 9, 2023.
• Investigators allege Ayari was contracted by the Mocro Maffia, a Netherlands-based criminal network, to carry out the shooting.
• Vidal-Quadras has publicly blamed Iran for masterminding the attack in reprisal for his support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and investigators are treating this as a central line of inquiry.
• Police continue to seek Sami Bekal Bounouare, alias Pacho, whom they regard as key to unraveling the broader conspiracy behind the assassination attempt.