This article is part of our series that explores Tehran’s terror activities and Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi‘s role in a bombing plot against the opposition rally in Paris in June 2018.
The trial of Assadollah Assadi, the Iranian regime’s bombing diplomat, in the Belgian court of Antwerp on Friday, November 27, 2020, is not an event that the godfather of global terrorism could tolerate.
The regime, by not allowing Assadi to appear in court, wanted to disobey the requirements of such a court and prevent further exposing its role in this international crime, but inadvertently confirmed its role nonetheless.
In its four-hour indictment, the Belgian prosecutor emphasized that all the evidence showed that Assadi had commanded the bombing of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) rally in Paris-Villepinte.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei‘s refusal to allow Assadi to attend the trial indicates that the regime was in fact behind the terrorist operation.
One day after the trial of the terrorist cell in the Belgian court of Antwerp, Keyhan Daily, affiliated with Khamenei, expressed its anger at the role and influence of the Mojahedin in this strategic defeat:
“The false allegation of an attempted bombing at the annual meeting of the group of hypocrites (the way the regime calls the MEK/PMOI) in 2018, held in the French capital, was the title of the accusation on the basis of which the German police had arrested our diplomat.”
Keyhan then could not hide its wonder, that how is it possible that the PMOI/MEK, as one side of this case, they have been asked for hours and their statements have been recorded and cited.
“Another trial was held behind closed doors in Antwerp, Belgium, in early August this year, and several members and leaders of the hypocritical (MEK/PMOI) group testified individually as witnesses against Mr. Assadi in the court.
“However, the arrest and prosecution of an Iranian diplomat while on a mission abroad is unprecedented in the history of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and even in the world,” Keyhan added.
What Keyhan considers unprecedented in the history of the regime’s terrorism and even in the world is that its terror official was caught while committing an act.
This disrupts all the regime’s calculations. This means that its other officials, who for years used to carry bomb-laying, sabotage training, liaison with field forces, and plot to assassinate, will no longer have immunity under the guise of diplomats.
It is interesting that the outlet exposed the regime’s terrorist identity and shows that even in a situation where one of its main players is under the scrutiny of global justice, it does not shy away from committing terrorism. But more important than this is Keyhan’s acknowledgment of a dangerous heresy in the regime’s foreign policy.
“In June 2018, in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention, if Assadi was not returned to Iran by Germany, the Foreign Ministry following the ‘principle of reciprocity’, should have arrested Assadi’s German counterpart in Iran.
“Now, not only has the Foreign Ministry failed to do so but in the next step, in a dangerous heresy, it has appointed a lawyer for someone with diplomatic immunity. Therefore, the main reason for not releasing the Iranian diplomat is the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s game in the puzzle of the European law-breaking party,” Keyhan wrote.
“However, by accepting Assadi’s detention and appointing a defense lawyer for him, the Foreign Ministry has confirmed Mr. Assadi’s lack of diplomatic immunity, allowing the hypocrites (MEK/PMOI) and European courts to enter the country in violation of the (system’s) sovereignty and ignoring the diplomatic situation, and the complaint against the (system’s) diplomat has become operational,” Khamenei-affiliated daily concluded.
