Robert Torricelli, former US Senator from New Jersey addressed an online global conference on the conviction of Iran’s diplomat-terrorist Assadollah Assadi by a Belgian court for attempting to bomb the 2018 Free Iran gathering in Paris.
On February 4, 2021, simultaneous with the court ruling against the Iranian regime’s diplomat-terrorist, Assadollah Assadi, and his accomplices in Antwerp, Belgium, a global online conference was held, where Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and dozens of prominent figures from various European countries, the United States and Canada, joined thousands of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI) members based in Ashraf-3 (Albania) as well as the supporters of the Iranian Resistance worldwide.
The Belgian court rejected Assadollah Assadi’s claim of diplomatic immunity and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. The three intelligence agents, Nasimeh Naami, Mehrdad Arefani, and Amir Saadouni, were sentenced to 18, 17, and 15 years in prison, respectively. Their Belgian citizenships was also revoked.
Robert Torricelli, former US Senator from New Jersey
My congratulations to all of those who joined with me in Paris and would have been victims of this terrorist plot on today’s verdict to all of those who have fought so hard and the MEK for Iranian freedom, and your Iranian patriots everywhere, who want to restore the good name of Iran and create a free and democratic republic in Tehran, there is no mistaking that today is an extraordinary victory.
These four individuals posing as Iranian diplomats, agents of the regime, have been found in a court of law, and a free open and fair process, guilty of acts of terrorism, any debate about the Iranian regimes involvement and acts of terror, murder is now over.
It’s established as a matter of law, a matter of fact, that it was the intention of the mullahs in Tehran, to murder Mrs. Rajavi, and all of us, who were there doing nothing more than in free expression in France, the heart of a Western democracy, petitioning the Iranian government to let its people live free lives. Now the verdict is in.
And these four individuals will pay with years or decades of their freedom. But what’s not done? They didn’t act alone. Indeed, interestingly, they never even pled innocence. All they were arguing is that they shouldn’t be tried because they were diplomats.
They didn’t claim they weren’t terrorists. They didn’t claim they weren’t trying to commit murder. They claim there were diplomats. Well, their pleas have been rejected.
Now, where do we go? First, let’s just be honest with each other, while these four individuals were guilty, they were members of the Iranian government, agents of the Ministry of security and intelligence, the real culprit that should be on trial, Zarif was not there. But he remains guilty.
And for all the international community who seek justice, he and his subordinates are yet to be apprehended and tried. But they are guilty, as is the larger regime. international diplomacy, using the status of a diplomat to transport explosives, to plan murderers, to move agents with the intent of killing is as much of a violation of international law as is possible.
So, what do we do? First, those nations who have not done so, designating Zarif, designating the ministry as a terrorist enterprise is essential, sanction it. Call it out for what it is a terrorist enterprise, all Western governments, if you have confidence in your own courts, if you believe your own prosecutors, if you’re willing to be honest with the evidence, what choice do we have?
These are judgments my own government, the United States have made, but now must be made by countries in the EU and Britain, and a host of other nations. You have confidence in your courts follow their lead. Second, the Iranian people.
If you doubted before, the claims of the United States and other Western nations that the Iranian regime is a terrorist government. Is there anything left now to discuss or debate in a free open court, they have been found guilty of using their own agents to commit terrorism.
So all of us have a role to play. My congratulations to the police of Germany, Belgium and France, the courts of Belgium, the governments of Western Europe for their professionalism, their honesty, their integrity, and their strength. they’ve spoken.
Now, as I’ve suggested other governments need to speak by designated terrorist acts, certainly designated as a terrorist. And then the Iranian people. You’ve seen the evidence, you’ve seen what has happened. So many brave Iranians have now taken to the streets demanding freedom for themselves and for their families. So many have sacrificed now it’s everyone else’s turn.
Take a stand. Take a stand, the MEK and this is Rajavi, who provide the leadership and the inspiration. There’s just so much they can do. And there’s just so much all of us the international community can do.
Ultimately, Well, today was a victory. It’s not the ultimate success that we need, that will be earned only by the Iranian people on the streets of the cities and towns of Iran, demanding freedom to everyone who was a part of today’s victory. Congratulations.
There is justice, there is accountability for acts of terrorism in the world by the Iranian government, as someday those who hold Iranian patriots today in jails throughout Iran, who’ve tortured your sons and daughters, denied your freedom, stolen billions of dollars, even while the Iranian people go hungry, deprived of the most basic needs, for the theft of your resources for the denial of your freedom, for the abuse of your children.
Justice today, there is a verdict. History and future courts, as assuredly the most will one day sit in a docket in a jury and a trial in Tehran for their crimes, as agents of the Ministry of Interior as a reef himself will sit in a jury docket. As sure as that will happen.
Today, we celebrate this great victory. Congratulations again, my thanks and admiration for the police, for the judges for the juries of Western Europe. Thank you
