3 arrested in connection with assassination attempt on right-wing Spanish politician

Three people were arrested Tuesday in connection with the shooting of a Spanish right-wing politician earlier this month.

Alejandro Vidal-Quadras, 78, was shot in the face in broad daylight on a Madrid street on Nov. 9. He remains hospitalized.

The National Police force’s press department said two suspects were detained in southern Spain’s city of Lanjaron and the third in the city of Fuengirola. The department declined to provide more details.

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Spanish state news agency EFE and other media outlets said none of the three was suspected of having fired the shot that hit Vidal-Quadras, who helped Spain’s far-right Vox party.

The National Court is investigating the shooting as a possible terrorist attack.

The Vice-President of the European Parliament Alejo Vidal-Quadras from Spain gestures while talking to the media at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday Jan. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Thierry Charlier, File)

Police told The Associated Press earlier this month that Vidal-Quadras had raised the possibility he was targeted because of his ties with Iran’s political opposition. Investigators were exploring a potential Iranian link but so far have no found evidence of one, police told the AP.

Vidal-Quadras has been aligned for decades with the Iranian opposition in exile. In January, Iran’s Foreign Ministry imposed sanctions on him and others with ties to the exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, accusing them of “supporting terrorism and terrorist groups.”

EFE said the two people arrested in Lanjaron were a Spanish man and his partner, a British woman. A man detained in Fuéngirola, also a Spaniard, was arrested in connection with a motorbike used in the shooting, the news agency reported.

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Vidal-Quadras was an important member of Spain’s conservative Popular Party and also a European Parliament member before he helped found Vox. He has not been active in politics for several years but maintained a public role as a media commentator and columnist.