Asadollah Asadi appeals against his 20-year prison sentence

Asadollah Asadi, a former diplomat of the Islamic Republic in Austria, and three of his Iranian accomplices have appealed against the verdict of the Antwerp court in Belgium. Asadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison for planning a terrorist operation, and his three accomplices were sentenced to 15 to 18 years.

Asadollah Asadi, an Iranian diplomat sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Antwerp, Belgium, has appealed against the verdict. Asadi and three of his colleagues, who were involved in planning the 2018 terrorist attacks, have requested a retrial.

Three other Iranians who were tried in the same court were each sentenced to 15 to 18 years in prison. They were planning to bomb a rally of the People's Mojahedin Organization in Paris. The operation was foiled just hours before it was to take place.

Asadollah Asadi, who was working as a diplomat in the Islamic Republic's embassy in Austria at the time, was identified by the Antwerp court as the mastermind of the operation. He has denied this, but the Islamic Republic has also called Asadi's trial "illegal."

The trial and its verdict strained relations between the Islamic Republic and several European countries, including Germany. Assad was arrested by German police in the country. German judicial authorities revoked Assad's diplomatic immunity and extradited him to Belgium.

After that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic summoned the German ambassador, and after the Antwerp court issued the ruling, the Belgian ambassador in Tehran was also summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Source: DW