An Iranian diplomat accused of plotting to bomb a rally near Paris will be tried by Belgium courts starting today. Assadollah Assadi, a 48-year-old Iranian diplomat has been accused by the Belgian security forces of trying to smuggle explosives and target a rally of exiled Iranian politicians opponents near Paris in 2018. This will be the first trial of an Iranian diplomat in Europe.
In June 2018 Belgian authorities thwarted an attempt to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in the French town of Villepinte near Paris. The NCRI, a group of Iran’s exiled opposition members, is the political arm of Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK). The police allege that Assadollah Assadi travelled from Vienna for the purpose, helped to smuggle explosives and planned to target the rally. A Belgian Muslim couple Amir and Nasimeh are co-accused in the case.
After further investigation, the French government accused Iran’s intelligence service of being behind the operation to target exiled political opponents who were speaking against the present regime in Iran. Even as Iran denied the allegations, the entire episode soured the relationship of the Islamic country with France and Belgium. Iran has given repeated ultimatums to both Belgium and France to free its diplomat.
If the Belgian court convicts Assadi, he faces life imprisonment. Amir and Nasimeh were arrested in Brussels while they were driving to France while German police arrested Mr Assadi in Bavaria. The French police arrested another Iranian citizen in Paris who is accused of being an accomplice. All four suspects were accused of planning a terrorist attack and killing civilians.
Belgian investigators say that Assadi met Amir and Nasimeh at a Pizza Hut restaurant in an old part of Luxembourg City and handed over a package containing half a kilogram of the explosive TATP and a detonator. They have alleged that he then directed the couple to place the explosives at a rally of the NCRI at Villepinte on 30 June.
Iran has accused the charges and says that Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) is a designated terrorist organisation which aims to overthrow the current regime. MEK has carried out several deadly attacks against the Iranian regime, including one that killed the president and prime minister in the 1980s. In response, Iranian security forces launched a crackdown on MEK members and sympathisers in which thousands have died. Belgian authorities allege that the attack on NCRI was part of the crackdown on MEK and its supporters across the world.
Aayush Pal 
Viswapramod C 
Srijan kumar