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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Miriam Burrell

British woman among three arrested after Spanish right-wing politician shot in face

A British woman and two Spanish men have been arrested in connection with the shooting of a right-wing politician in the streets of Madrid.

Alejandro Vidal-Quadras, 78, who helped to found Spain's far-right Vox party, was shot in the face in broad daylight on November 9 and remains in hospital.

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

On Tuesday Spanish police said two suspects were detained in the city of Lanjaron, in southern Spain, and the third in the city of Fuengirola.

The two people arrested in Lanjaron were a Spanish man and his partner, a British woman, Spanish state news agency EFE reported.

A man detained in Fuengirola, also a Spaniard, was arrested in connection with a motorbike used in the shooting, the news agency reported.

None of the three was suspected of having fired the shot that hit Mr Vidal-Quadras, local media report.

The police cordon after the shooting on November 9 (AP)

Police told The Associated Press earlier this month that Mr 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.

Mr 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".

Mr Vidal-Quadras was an important member of Spain's conservative Popular Party and also a European Parliament member before he helped found Vox.

He left Vox shortly after a failed attempt to win a European lawmaker seat in 2014.

He has not been active in politics for several years but maintained a public role as a media commentator and columnist.

The shooting came after Mr Sanchez's government agreed a deal with Catalan separatist Junts party.

Socialist lawmaker and party official Santos Cerdan announced the deal on November 9 after sealing the agreement with the party led by Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after leading the failed 2017 independence attempt for Catalonia.

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