Jul 04 2022

On the fourth anniversary of the Iranian regime’s foiled bomb attempt against the Iranian opposition peaceful Free Iran 2018 rally in Villepinte, a suburb of Paris, the Belgian Parliament’s official website reported the MPs would debate the government’s bill for legitimizing the “Transfer of Sentenced Persons” to Iran this week.

Some 100,000 people, including hundreds of lawmakers, current and former officials, and dignitaries from five continents, attended the Free Iran Grand Gathering in June 2018.

Since 2018, the Iranian regime has done its utmost by hostage-taking, terrorism threats, applying diplomatic pressure, and secret talks to return Assadollah Assadi, the plot’s orchestrator, to Iran. If that were to happen, Assadi would receive a badge of honor for following the fatwa by the regime’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini to kill dissidents, mainly members, and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

On July 1, German law enforcement detained Assadi in Bayern state, Germany, as he was returning to Vienna, Austria, where he served as the Iranian embassy’s third counselor. Further investigation revealed that not only had Assadi led the bomb attempt against the rally, but he was Tehran’s intelligence station chief in Europe.

After months, German authorities extradited Assadi to Belgium to be tried along with his three accomplices. Assadi was convicted and sentenced to the ultimate punishment of 20 years in prison for masterminding the plot in a Belgian court on February 4, 2021. He refused to appeal the sentence, obviously admitting to his role in the terror attempt.

Brussels Gives Greenlight for Further Terror Plots If Assadi Is Returned to Tehran

The Belgian Parliament unveiled a secret “Treaty between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Islamic Republic of Iran on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, done at Brussels on 11 March 2022, and the Protocol of 22 November 2017 amending the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, signed on 7 April 2022 in Strasbourg.”

The Parliament’s revelation prompted Iranian dissidents to vent their anger over the Belgian authorities’ decision to appease the world’s foremost state-sponsor of terrorism. Dozens of Iranian diaspora and potential victims of the Assadi bomb plot rallied in Brussels, condemning the “Shameful Deal.”

Remarkably, Assadi was a serving “diplomat,” contrary to a hypothesis promoted by the regime’s lobbies about “rogue elements.” In October 2018, former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif openly rejected this hypothesis.

“We [the Foreign Ministry] do not have a system that acts of its own volition. Can we really do something in this country without reporting it?” Zarif said. “We have never sought to do anything contrary to the commands of His Excellency, the Leader [Ali Khamenei].”

Furthermore, the head of Belgium’s State Security Service said that intelligence officials had determined the planned bombing was a state-sanctioned operation approved in Tehran. Noteworthy, Assadi had promised his agents, “I would bring you to Aqa [aka of Khamenei] if the operation succeeded,” based on the agents’ confessions.

Nonetheless, Assadi refused to participate in trial sessions based on Zarif’s order. Further evidence proved that the terrorist diplomat was not a rogue element, but he was fulfilling an administrative task.

Iranian Resistance, Belgian MP, and ISJ Condemn the Swap

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI President-elect and Assadi’s primary target, denounced the possible deal, calling on Iranians, lawyers, political dignitaries, Belgian MPs, MEPs, and MPs in other European countries to take urgent action to prevent the bill’s adoption.

“The parliament of Belgium upheld the urgency of a bill approved by the government to transfer convicts. The bill will soon be submitted to the parliament for adoption, according to which convicted criminals from the two countries can serve their sentences in their own countries,” Mrs. Rajavi wrote. “If the bill is adopted, the Iranian regime’s terrorist diplomat Assadollah Assadi and his accomplices will be freed and sent to Iran.”

“The Iranian Resistance vehemently condemns this shameful deal with the clerical regime, the main sponsor of terrorism and bloodshed on European soil, and demands it be stopped,” the NCRI President-elect added.

“Brussels’s shameful deal with Tehran will escalate terrorism and endanger European nationals and Iranian refugees,” the NCRI wrote. “Under the pretext of a prisoner swap between the two countries, Brussels is paving the way for the release and exoneration of Asadollah Assadi, the terrorist diplomat who had smuggled explosives from Tehran into European soil and plotted to attack an international event.”

“It is beyond ludicrous to assume that the mullahs will imprison the very agents they had ordered to carry out the failed plot to bomb the NCRI’s rally. Everything must be done to stop this disgraceful and scandalous deal,” the NCRI added.

“What’s at stake is the rule of law, justice, and the security of Europe. By handing Assadollah Assadi to Iran’s regime, Belgium will give Tehran the greenlight to continue terror plots on European soil,” the PMOI/MEK wrote. “Instead of returning Assadi to Iran, Belgian authorities should be focused on dismantling Tehran’s terror network inside their country and across Europe.”

“Iranian diaspora protests the announcement of protocol agreement with Iran,” said Belgian MP Michael Freilich, denouncing the Belgian authorities’ deal with the world’s foremost state-sponsor of terrorism. “We must not erode our rule of law in this way.”

Mr. Freilich had already condemned the potential deal with the Iranian regime on May 5. “Message to my many Iranian friends who have been fighting for years against the horrific regime in Iran,” he tweeted. “I am alarmed by talk of a possible release of convicted terrorist-diplomat Assadolah Assadi. Let it be clear: We should NEVER negotiate with terrorists or terrorist states!”

Also, the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ), which enjoys the support of over 4000 parliamentarians on both sides of the Atlantic, denounced the bill.

“It’s clear that the intention of this Belgian bill from Iran’s perspective will be the release from prison of their ex-diplomat Assadollah Assadi and his three co-conspirators, sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for acts of terrorism,” the committee wrote. “If these prisoners are allowed to return to Iran, their release would make a complete mockery of justice and send the clearest signal to the Iranian regime that they can conduct terrorist attacks in Europe with impunity.”

Source » irannewsupdate

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