Belgium tries Iranian diplomat over bomb plot

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BRUSSELS, Nov 27, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – An Iranian diplomat goes on trial in
Belgium on Friday accused of plotting to bomb an opposition rally outside
Paris, in a case that has stoked tensions with Tehran.

In June 2018 Belgian authorities thwarted what they said was an attempt to
smuggle explosives to France to attack a meeting of one of Iran’s exiled
opposition movements.

Later that year, the French government accused Iran’s intelligence service
of being behind the operation, a charge the Islamic republic has furiously
denied.

Assadollah Assadi, a 48-year-old Iranian diplomat formerly based in Vienna,
faces life in prison if convicted.

The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), which includes the
People’s Mojahedin of Iran or (MEK), organised a rally in Villepinte outside
Paris on June 30, 2018.

Several well-known international figures — including former US and British
officials and Franco-Colombian former senator Ingrid Betancourt — and NCRI
leader Maryam Rajavi were to attend.

On the same morning, Belgian police intercepted a Belgian-Iranian couple
driving from Antwerp and carrying half-a-kilo of TATP explosives and a
detonator.

The arrested couple, 36-year-old Nassimeh Naami and 40-year-old Amir
Saadouni, join Assadi in the dock, alongside another alleged accomplice,
Mehrdad Arefani, 57.

All four are charged with attempting to carry out a terrorist attack and
taking part in the activity of a terrorist group. All face life sentences.

Assadi was arrested while he was travelling through Germany where he had no
immunity from prosecution, being outside of the country of his diplomatic
posting.

Arefani, an Iranian poet who had lived in Belgium for more than a decade,
was arrested in France in 2018 after Belgium issued an European arrest
warrant.

– ‘Absolutely furious’ –

Counsel representing those targeted by the alleged attack say Arefani was
close to Assadi, said to be the architect of the plot, and point to an
Austrian SIM card found in his possession.

The two men deny any connection.

“We are looking at a clear case of state terrorism,” said lawyer Georges-
Henri Beauthier, who is representing the interests of the NCRI, along with
French colleague William Bourdon.

Dimitri de Beco, defence counsel for Assadi, has accused the civil
plaintiffs of trying to turn the case into a political trial on behalf of the
opposition movement.

According to Iran expert Francois Nicoullaud — a former French ambassador
to Tehran — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani was surprised to learn about the
failed attack.

“Visiting Europe at the time, he was absolutely furious to learn about this
intelligence service operation, on which he hadn’t been consulted,” the
diplomat told AFP.

At the time of the alleged plot, Rouhani was trying to maintain the support
of European capitals for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which US President
Donald Trump had abandoned.

When Paris pointed the finger at Iranian intelligence, an Iranian spokesman
voiced denial and alleged that opponents of the deal in “certain quarters”
were attempting to frame Tehran.

That idea was dismissed by observers like Nicoullaud as a smoke screen.
“It’s not serious,” he said.

The trial is scheduled to take two days, Friday and then Thursday next
week. The court is then expected to adjourn to consider its verdict before
ruling early next year.