Steve McCabe, British MP for Birmingham Selly Oak 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.
Steve McCabe, British MP for Birmingham Selly Oak
Maryam Rajavi, friends in Ashraf 3, I’m very pleased to be able to join you today. These are historic events in times where a diplomat from the Iranian regime has been found guilty of a terrorist plot and getting the maximum sentence of 20 years.
But it’s not just Asadollah Assadi and his co-conspirators who are guilty. His masters in Tehran must also be held accountable. If there’s a symmetry about these speeches, it’s because we’ve all come to similar conclusions.
This trial has exposed for all to see how the Iranian authorities show contempt for diplomatic conventions by using their embassies and diplomatic missions to export terror and carry out terrorist operations.
That’s not how a normal government behaves, even at times of genuine difference, tensions, and difficulties. It’s the actions of a pariah state, a regime that for years has taken advantage of diplomatic privileges and opportunities, not to further understanding, improve communication, and resolve difficulties, but to plan, export, and support terrorist activity and murder around the globe.
Today’s sentence is proof of what they have denied for so long. Asadollah Assadi didn’t deny the charges or express any regret. Instead, he asserted that the diplomatic status conferred on him by his masters in Tehran made he was above the law and should go free.
He refused to recognize the court in Antwerp. He showed contempt for the Belgian people, contempt for the French people, and utter disdain for the hundreds of innocent people he planned to murder.
The Iranian Foreign Minister defended him. The Iranian authorities had the temerity to accuse the French, German, and Belgians of violating diplomatic norms, violating diplomatic norms for apprehending a terrorist, foiling a bomb plot, and prosecuting the culprits.
That tells you all you need to know. He and his co-conspirators have got the sentence justice demands. The West now needs to show steely determination in making sure it’s carried out.
There can be no backdoor deals, no…, no swaps for innocent hostages seized by the lawyers for the express purpose of using them as bargaining chips with the deliberate intention of seeking the release of terrorists like Assadi.
This is the time for tougher action, stronger sanctions, reduced diplomatic privileges, and reconsideration of our longer-term relations with this regime.
I believe we can’t do business with them because we can’t ever trust them and there’s no point in pretending otherwise. Terrorists are terrorists no matter how they dress or what they call themselves. A terrorist can’t represent legitimate governments.
They can’t negotiate with democratic governments and they can’t enjoy conventional diplomatic relations. They are cancer and they should be rooted out. Thank you.
