Iranian diplomat is jailed for 20 years over Paris bomb plot

An Iranian diplomat who plotted a bomb attack at a Paris conference attended by five British MPs and Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been jailed for 20 years. 

A judge in Antwerp today rejected Assadollah Assadi’s invocation of diplomatic immunity to the fury of the Islamic Republic, who called his conviction ‘illegal.’ 

Assadi, 48, smuggled a bomb made from ‘Mother of Satan’ explosives on a commercial flight from Tehran in his diplomatic bag – exempt from security checks.

The bag was destined for a conference for Iranian exiles outside Paris in June 2018.

Guests included British MPs Bob Blackman, Matthew Offord, Sir David Amess, Theresa Villiers and Roger Godsiff; the former mayor of New York, Giuliani; and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich. 

Assadi handed the bag of TATP – the same explosives as were used in the Manchester Arena attack – to accomplices who were stopped in Belgium.   

Assasollah Assadi, pictured, was jailed for 20 years today after masterminding a plot to launch a bomb attack against an Iranian opposition conference in France in 2018

Assasollah Assadi, pictured, was jailed for 20 years today after masterminding a plot to launch a bomb attack against an Iranian opposition conference in France in 2018 

Theresa Villiers MP speaks from the British delegation, flanked by Bob Blackman MP (left) and Roger Godsiff MP (right), at the Iranian opposition rally in Paris on June 30, 2018

Theresa Villiers MP speaks from the British delegation, flanked by Bob Blackman MP (left) and Roger Godsiff MP (right), at the Iranian opposition rally in Paris on June 30, 2018 

Three of his co-conspirators, dual national Iranian-Belgians, were also jailed today for between 15 and 18 years and stripped of their Belgian citizenship. 

Prosecutor Georges-Henri Beauthier said that the attack ‘could have been carnage’ had it not been intercepted in time.

‘The ruling shows two things: A diplomat doesn’t have immunity for criminal acts … and the responsibility of the Iranian state in what could have been carnage,’ he said.  

He had argued for the maximum prison sentence of 20 years on charges of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group. 

Assadi refused to testify during his trial last year, invoking his diplomatic status, and did not attend today’s hearing at an Antwerp courthouse. 

Labour MP Roger Godsiff was part of the British delegation at the conference

 Labour MP Roger Godsiff was part of the British delegation at the conference

A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, condemned the court decisions and said Iran did not recognise the sentence because it considers the Belgian proceedings against Assadi to have been illegal.

The court in Antwerp rejected Assadi’s claims of individual immunity and said the case did not violate state immunity principles since neither Iran nor an Iranian security service stood trial.

In its ruling, it made clear Iran was not on trial, but insisted the quartet of defendants were members of a cell operating for Iran’s intelligence services gathering information about the opposition group to identify targets and set up an attack.

The plot was foiled when Belgian police were tipped off about a car being driven by Nassimeh Naami, 36, and Amir Saadouni, 40, the couple recruited by Assadi.

Inside their luggage police discovered a pound of TATP explosives along with a detonator. 

Investigators said the device was of professional quality and could have caused a large explosion among the 25,000 gathered at the conference in Paris. 

Assadi had offloaded the bomb to the couple at a Pizza Hut restaurant in Luxembourg.

The couple were arrested and Assadi was later stopped in Germany where he was not protected by diplomatic immunity.

Saadouni was today jailed for 15 years while Naami received an 18-year prison term. 

A fourth defendant, Mehrdad Arefani, an Iranian poet who has lived in Belgium for half a decade, was also sentenced to 17 years in prison.  

Matthew Offord

Sir David Amess

BRITISH DELEGATES: Tory MPs Matthew Offord (left) and Sir David Amess

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, speaks at the same rally in France in 2018

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, speaks at the same rally in France in 2018 

Theresa Villiers MP speaks as the British delegation appear on stage during the Conference In Support Of Freedom and Democracy In Iran on June 30, 2018 in Paris, France. The speakers declared their support for the Iranian peoples uprising and the democratic alternative, the National Council of Resistance of Iran and called on the international community to adopt a firm policy against the regime and stand by the people of Iran

Theresa Villiers MP speaks as the British delegation appear on stage during the Conference In Support Of Freedom and Democracy In Iran on June 30, 2018 in Paris, France. The speakers declared their support for the Iranian peoples uprising and the democratic alternative, the National Council of Resistance of Iran and called on the international community to adopt a firm policy against the regime and stand by the people of Iran

Evidence from Belgian intelligence identified Assadi as an officer of Iran’s intelligence and security ministry who worked under cover at Iran’s embassy in Vienna. 

Belgium’s state security officers said he worked for the ministry’s so-called Department 312, the directorate for internal security, which is on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations.

Prosecutors said he was the ‘operational commander’ of the attack and accused him of recruiting the couple to get information about the opposition. 

Lawyers for the MEK claimed during the trial, without offering evidence, that the diplomat set up the attack on direct orders from top Iranian authorities.   

Tehran has denied having a hand in the plot, but Assadi’s conviction could embarrass Iran as the new US administration weighs up whether to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.   

Iran says it expects Washington to lift economic sanctions that Donald Trump imposed on the country after pulling America out of the deal in 2018.

The European Union centred its reaction on Assadi specifically and did not draw in Iran as a nation.

‘The acts committed by this person are completely unacceptable. That’s a fact. The other aspect I can add is that the person in question is already on the EU counter-terrorism list,’ said EU spokesman Peter Stano. 

The Belgian government said the ruling stood on its own, separated from diplomacy and international relations.

‘What matters is that today the justice system has ruled on facts of terrorism and made a clear statement about it. And it must be able to do that in complete independence. Otherwise, we no longer live in a constitutional state,’ said Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.

TARGETED: Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, waves to well-wishers in Villepinte, north of Paris, at the annual conference in 2014

TARGETED: Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, waves to well-wishers in Villepinte, north of Paris, at the annual conference in 2014

Thousands of exiled Iranians gathered in Villepinte, north of Paris, to listen to the speech of Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in June, 2014

Thousands of exiled Iranians gathered in Villepinte, north of Paris, to listen to the speech of Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in June, 2014

Top MEK figure Maryam Rajavi said today: ‘For years, the regime’s apologists promoted the illusion that it is only a rogue faction that carries out the terrorist plots. 

‘But 2.5 years of investigations has now confirmed that the entire clerical regime has been involved in terrorism.’ 

‘The time has come for the European Union to take action,’ she said, urging EU countries to recall their ambassadors from Tehran in light of the ruling. 

Rajavi is the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran which is a part of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), an exiled Iranian opposition group largely based in Albania and Paris.

It was formed in 1965 by college students who embraced both Marxism and Islamic governance while seeking to overthrow the ruling shah.

They’ve been blamed for killing Americans in the 1970s and later assassinations and bombings, attacks in which the group now denies being involved.

They were pushed out of Iran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, then joined Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in battling Iran, becoming incredibly unpopular in their country.

The group has sought to rehabilitate its image in recent years, paying tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to American politicians.

The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001.

source: dailymail.co.uk