His sentence to twenty years in prison is now final. An Iranian diplomat convicted in Belgium for a planned attack in France against opponents of the Tehran regime withdrew his appeal on Wednesday 5 May, announced the Belgian federal prosecutor.
Assadollah Assadi, 49, stationed at the Iranian embassy in Vienna at the time of the events, was considered by the Belgian justice as the coordinator of this foiled attempt at attack in extremis on June 30, 2018, thanks to the concerted action of several European intelligence services.
Judged with three accomplices for “Terrorist assassination attempts” and “Participation in the activities of a terrorist group”Mr. Assadi, described as an agent of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, was sentenced on February 4 in Antwerp (north) to the maximum sentence, in accordance with what the prosecution had requested during the trial at the end of November.
The diplomat, who has always denied the facts, was absent both at the trial and at the delivery of the judgment. Wednesday morning, on the occasion of a procedural hearing before the Antwerp Court of Appeal, Mr.e Dimitri de Beco has announced that his client is giving up on appeal.
Three accomplices tried in November
As the federal prosecutor’s office had not appealed, judging “Coherent” his sentence to the maximum penalty, it becomes final, explained a source close to the file. Only the three alleged accomplices of the diplomat, sentenced on February 4 by the Antwerp Criminal Court to terms of 15 to 18 years in prison, will be retried in the Flemish city. Plea hearings before the appeals court have been set for November 17 and 18, a lawyer in the case told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
This dossier, mixing espionage and terrorism, has sparked diplomatic tensions between Tehran and several European capitals, including Paris. A bomb attack was to target on June 30, 2018, in Villepinte near Paris, the annual high mass of the National Council of Iranian Resistance (NCRI), a coalition of opponents whose main component is the Organization of the People’s Moudjahidin Iranian (MEK).
Targeted opponents denounced a project falling under the “State terrorism”, which could have caused “A bloodbath” while thousands of people attended this rally. Iran, for its part, criticized legal proceedings “Illegal and in flagrant violation of international law”, because of the diplomatic immunity that Mr. Assadi should have enjoyed in Tehran’s eyes.
