On Friday, the Omani government announced brokering a prisoner exchange between Belgium and Iran’s regime. The Iranian opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), condemned the release of Assadollah Assadi, Tehran’s convicted terrorist diplomat.
Prior to this, the Belgian Constitutional Court had mandated that Brussels inform the victims before extraditing the convict to Iran, allowing them to pursue legal action. However, in violation of the court order, Assadi was released without notifying the victims, thereby disregarding their rights.
Assadi was convicted of orchestrating and leading a terrorist attack that targeted an NCRI rally near Paris in 2018. This incident has been described as the largest criminal act in Europe since World War II.
Iran’s regime took a Belgian aid worker as hostage to put pressure on Brussels and force the Belgian government to succumb to its demands and release Assadi.
This prisoner-swap deal was condemned by renowned Western politicians, including those who participated in the NCRI’s “Free Iran Summit” in 2018, which Assadi tried to bomb. In this regard, British MP Bob Blackman said: “Assadi’s release as part of a prisoner exchange between Brussels and Tehran today means that not only is he allowed to escape justice and accountability for his crime but also rewards the regime’s unacceptable and illegal hostage-taking diplomacy.”
#Assadi’s release as part of a prison exchange between #Brussels and #Tehran today means that not only is he allowed to escape justice and accountability for his crime but also rewards the regime’s unacceptable and illegal hostage-taking diplomacy. 5/6
— Bob Blackman (@BobBlackman) May 26, 2023
Indeed, Assadi’s release encourages the clerical regime to continue its malign activities and continue to use hostage-taking as a cornerstone of its diplomacy. But an in-depth look at the entire case, from Assadi’s arrest to his release, indicates several very important issues:
- First, it implies the regime’s fear of its organized Resistance movement to the degree that the regime’s authorities used their top operative and a high-ranking diplomat to smuggle a bomb from Tehran and personally try to lead the foiled attack.
- Secondly, Assadi’s arrest was a major blow to the regime’s terrorist apparatus and network of espionage in Europe. His apprehension and the information revealed during his trial once again confirmed the Iranian Resistance’s four-decades-long warnings and revelations about Tehran’s network of terrorism and espionage in Europe and how the regime’s embassies act as emissaries of terror.
- Assadi’s trial revealed dark, chilling, and yet new aspects of Iran’s ruthless terrorism. During the investigations, Assadi had threatened authorities that his conviction would have serious consequences for Belgium. Nevertheless, he was convicted based on a large trove of documents, marking history as the first diplomat in the 21st century to be incarcerated on charges of terrorism.
- When it was exposed that Belgium intended to free Assadi in the context of a prisoner-swap deal, the world witnessed how tirelessly the Iranian Resistance mobilized all its powers, used every legal possibility, and formed an international front against this dirty deal, hindering Assadi’s release for at least a year.
- Assadi’s eventual release also showed who is the real alternative to the mullahs’ regime that it had to mobilize its entire diplomatic and hostage-taking apparatus to somehow save face after experiencing setbacks due to the Iranian Resistance’s tireless efforts and major blows.
On May 26, the state-run Farhikhtegan newspaper wrote: “No other opposition group has engaged with the parliaments of European countries and the US Congress as extensively as the MEK. While other groups resort to seeking and begging for handouts from Europe and America, the MEK has garnered support from numerous Western authorities. The arrest of the system’s diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, for plotting to bomb the MEK gathering in Paris can also be understood within this context.”
While Tehran might celebrate Assadi’s release, but it has to await more blows from a restive nation and an organized Resistance that has vowed to topple it at any cost.
