On June 30, 2022, the fourth anniversary of a foiled bomb attempt against the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) grand gathering in Paris, the Belgian Government attempted hastily push through the Parliament a treaty to secure the release of the convicted and imprisoned Iranian terrorist-diplomat Assadollah Assadi.
Back on June 30, 2018, European law enforcement foiled the bomb plot in a joint operation, detaining Assadi and his three accomplices. Following months of interrogation and investigation, a court in Antwerp city, Belgium, eventually sentenced Assadi and his accomplices to 20 and 18 years in prison in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Tehran-Brussels Disgraceful Deal
In the past four years, the Iranian regime has tried to secure the release of the convicted terrorist by threatening, hostage-taking, and sentencing innocent VUB Prof. Ahmadreza Djalali to death. Finally, Tehran’s ambassador in Belgium, Gholamhossein Dehghani, signed a deal with Belgian judicial authorities to release Assadi.
In return, the mullahs were obligated to release Belgian nationals or dual nationals taken hostage in Iran on bogus accusations. This deal remained secret until June 30, when the government urgently pushed it to the parliament to be passed.
According to the deal, Assadi is to serve the rest of his imprisonment in Iran, the very country that ordered him to carry out the terror plot. Assadi is not the first such individual in this respect. The mullahs had already swapped several terrorists, including Anis Al-Naqqash, who futilely attempted to assassinate Shahpur Bakhtiar in Paris, Kazem Darabi, the murderer of Mykonos killing in Berlin, Hamid Abutalebi, the assassin of NCRI representative in Italy Dr. Mohammad Hossein Naqdi in Rome, and Ali Vakili Rad and Zainal Sarhada, the killers in Geneva of NCRI representative in the UN’s European HQ, Prof. Kazem Rajavi.
All of these murderers were sent back to Iran. However, they received a hero’s welcome rather than being prosecuted or imprisoned for their crimes, which Assadi expects to receive in the near future.
Furthermore, none of these swaps eased the terror threats posed by Tehran or ended the mullahs’ hostage-taking operations. Instead, these concessions led the regime to intensify its terrorism and hostage-taking.
“This is an utter insult to the conscience and understanding of people across the globe, and especially the Iranian people, to have a terrorist mastermind of the mullahs’ regime spend the rest of his remaining 16 years of jail time among the very individuals who ordered him to carry out the terrorist bombing in 2018,” the NCRI stated on July 5.
Iranian Opposition Unveils New Details About the Disgraceful Deal
In a press conference held by NCRI Foreign Affairs Commission on the same day, opposition members and legal experts denounced the deal. “Let there be no illusions here. Cloaked with the benign intention of justice and humanity, this treaty has only one objective. That is facilitating the release of the notorious terror master, Assadollah Assadi,” said NCRI member Farzin Hashemi.
“Tens of thousands of people and hundreds of dignitaries from the US and Europe were in attendance at the meeting in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran on June 30, 2018. If the plan to bomb the gathering had been successful, it would have been the biggest terrorist incident in Europe.”
NCRI lawyer Georges Henri Beauthier also added that Assadi and his accomplices were convicted and belonged to a terrorist organization. “The world knows there would have been tens of thousands of dead from the explosion they planned. They wanted to kill many people. And now, in a few weeks, they will be released.”
“A letter from February 2, 2021, ensured that there would be no discussions with the Iranian government about the terrorists. And now, one year later, they are preparing to free them. What will the federal prosecutor say, who spent four years to gather evidence to show these were indeed terrorists?”
Freedom-Loving Iranians Voice Against the Deal
Simultaneously, hundreds of freedom-loving Iranians held rallies in Belgium, the U.S., Canada, the UK, Denmark, and Sweden, protesting the Belgian authorities’ disgraceful deal with the mullahs ruling Iran.
“Don’t free terrorists,” Iranians chanted outside the Belgian prime minister’s office in Brussels, venting their anger over the government’s treaty with the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism. “Such treaties make Europe safe heaven for terrorists,” Iranian dissidents said.
In her message addressing freedom-loving Iranians, NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi extended her gratitude to all Iranians, parliamentarians, lawyers, and political figures participating in the global campaign against the shameful deal with the religious fascism ruling Iran to release of the terrorist diplomat, who masterminded the plot to bomb the Free Iran World Summit 2018 near Paris.
The Iranian diaspora’s global campaign and protest demonstrations in Belgium, Austria, France, Sweden, the US, Germany, Norway, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK, Australia, Romania, and Luxembourg are precious#DontFreeTerrorists pic.twitter.com/wZTjrzlMZ0
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) July 5, 2022
