An Iranian diplomat accused of being behind a failed 2018 terrorist attack against an Iranian dissident group near Paris missed a hearing on Friday, the first day of the trial.
Vienna-based Iranian diplomat Asadullah Assad was one of four people arrested in Paris for allegedly plotting to bomb the annual gathering of Iranian dissident groups. He has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempted murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.
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Prosecutors allege that Assad flew from Iran to Vienna with the explosives and gave them to an Iranian couple recruited at a pizza hut in Luxembourg. The couple was traveling to Paris when they were arrested in Belgium on June 30, 2018.
On November 27, people waited in line like a police patrol outside a courthouse in Antwerp, Belgium. (AP Photo / Virginia Mayo)
Police found 550 grams of volatile explosives and detonators. The Belgian bomb disposal unit said the device was of commercial quality and could cause a significant explosion in a crowd of about 25,000.
Prosecutors claim the plot was motivated by the highest levels of the Iranian government. Iran has repeatedly denied responsibility for the plot. Assad has denied the allegations and his lawyer claims that because of his diplomatic status “the court is not able to judge him.”
Iran’s National Council for Resistance, a dissident group that will be targeted, said the plan originated in Tehran. It accused religious dictatorial leaders of conspiracy.
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“As I emphasized during my seven-hour testimony, the Supreme National Security Council, chaired by Hassan Rouhani, decided to bomb the annual meeting of the Iranian Resistance, and the Supreme Leader of the regime, Ali Khamenei, approved it,” the NCRI president said. -Picture Mariam Rajavi, the alleged target of the conspiracy, stated in a statement. “Khamenei, Ruhani, [Foreign Minister] Jawad Zarif and Mulla’s intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi will have to be brought to justice for decades of crimes and terrorism. “
She also lashed out at the European Union’s alleged silence on Iran’s volatile actions.
“The European Union and its member states, whose territories have become a breeding ground for terrorism under the rule of religious fascism, are subject to court ruling by public opinion to end the regime’s policy of silence and adopt a decisive policy. Towards a medieval regime in Iran, “he said.
The 2018 event hosted guests including Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, a supporter of the NCRI, as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
The hearing takes place during a critical political time of EU-Iran and US-Iran relations. The United States withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in 2018, but the European Union has remained a staunch defender of the deal, saying it has maintained its rule – at least until the US withdraws.
The Trump administration has sought to build a coalition of nations to counter Iranian influence and has engaged in a “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran that has seen renewed sanctions, but Europe has largely opposed the move.
It had little effect on the Iranian regime, with the campaign spreading economic unrest – leading to a number of significant protests within Iran against the government’s economic policies.
The U.S., meanwhile, ousted Iran’s top general, Qasim Soleimani, in a strike in January that weakened Iran. On Friday, Iran announced that nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had been assassinated, and indicated Israel’s involvement.
But there are signs that Washington’s stance on Iran will change in the coming months.
President-elect Joe Biden has signaled he will move away from that more aggressive stance, and try to re-enter the Iran deal. There are other signs of a less aggressive attitude. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that the terrorist organization would be “hit”.
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But Farzin Hashmi, a member of the NCRI’s foreign affairs committee, told Fox News in an interview this week that the alleged terrorist activity “shows the true face of the Iranian regime” and shows that concessions will not work.
“The experience of the last ten years has shown and proved that this regime understands only the language of violence and force, and that relaxing this regime will only encourage it to engage in terrorism or other malicious activities in the region, and repression will also” Iranian people. ” He said.
The Associated Press contributes to this report.
