The verdict and sentencing of Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, along with his three accomplices, on terrorism charges will announce on Thursday, February 4, 2021.
Assadi and the other three defendants are charged with attempting to bomb a 2018 Free Iran rally in Paris, attended by 100,000 people, with the goal of killing opposition leader Maryam Rajavi. Assadi, falsely claiming diplomatic immunity, has refused to cooperate with the trial and the regime have not distanced themselves from him.
The prosecutors said that he smuggled the 500 grams of TATP explosives and a detonator into Europe in diplomatic luggage before handing it off to Amir Saadouni and Nasimeh Naami in Luxembourg.
When Assadi was arrested in Germany, on his way back to Austria where he was stationed, police found a notebook in his car containing detailed information about this plot and payments made to his accomplices, but they also found a second notebook with information about hundreds of visits Assadi had made to 11 European countries and payments made in correlation.
This sparked concerns of a proxy network of spies controlled by Assadi and on the regime’s payroll. After all, prosecutors in the current case have been very clear that they believe Assadi was working at the behest of the top regime officials, like Foreign Minister Javad Zarif who has been quick to wrongly use “diplomatic immunity” to defend Assadi.
Even if he wasn’t outside his host country at the time of arrest, Belgian authorities could still have arrested him because international law allows for the removal of immunity in cases like this.
This case could mean a massive change in how Europe deals with Iranian terrorism on their shores. Let’s not forget that the regime has long used its embassies to plot and carry out the assassination of opposition figures, like Kazem Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance’s representative in Switzerland.
The Iranian Resistance wrote: “Over two years of investigation and an enormous amount of evidence suggest the 2018 bomb plot was an act of state-sponsored terrorism. The iron-clad evidence shows how the regime misused its diplomatic privileges and relations with the European countries to attempt to instigate mass murder in the heart of Europe… Now Assadi’s trial and his likely condemnation could be a momentum and a turning point in Europe-Iran relations.”
They advised that Europe close Iran’s embassies and expel its agents to prevent the regime from spreading chaos around the world.