Assadollah Assadi Appeals Against 20-Year Prison Sentence

Assadollah Assadi, a former diplomat of the Islamic Republic in Austria, and three Iranian accomplices have filed an appeal against the ruling of the Antwerp court in Belgium. Assadi has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for planning a terrorist operation, while his three accomplices have been sentenced to 15 to 18 years in prison.

Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Antwerp, Belgium, has filed an appeal against the ruling. Assadi and three colleagues who played a role in planning a terrorist operation in 2018 have requested a retrial.

Three other Iranians who were tried in this court have each been sentenced to 15 to 18 years in prison. These individuals intended to carry out a bombing at a gathering of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization in Paris. This operation was thwarted only hours before it was to be carried out.

Assadollah Assadi, who at that time served as a diplomat at the embassy of the Islamic Republic in Austria, was identified by the Antwerp court as the principal planner of the operation. However, he has denied this. The Islamic Republic has also deemed Assadi’s trial “illegal.”

The holding of this trial and the ruling issued by it has resulted in strained relations between the Islamic Republic and several European countries, including Germany. Assadi was arrested by German police in that country. German judicial authorities revoked Assadi’s diplomatic immunity and handed him over to Belgium.

Subsequently, the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic summoned the German ambassador, and after the Antwerp court’s ruling was issued, the Belgian ambassador to Tehran was also summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Source: DW