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Assadi’s trial: A victory for the people of Iran, a test for Europe

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, November 28, 2020—The Iranian regime and its officials have much to answer for: human rights violations, torture, execution, terrorism, censorship, and arming terror groups are just some of the items that adorn the list of crimes the mullahs’ regime has committed. But while it was previously thought that these criminals would only see justice after the fall of their regime, a trial held in Antwerp, Belgium, on Friday, November 27, proved otherwise.

The court tried Assadollah Assadi, a Vienna-based Iranian diplomat, and three other individuals who tried to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in 2018. The four were arrested by European authorities before they could carry out the attack and after Assadi had delivered 500 grams of explosives to his accomplices.

But the real defendant in this case is the entirety of the Iranian regime, which, for the first time after four decades of assassinations and bombings, is being tried for what it really is: A state-sponsor of terror.

"Today, this is a historical day. After 40 years of export of terrorism and involving in acts of terrorism in Europe and elsewhere, for the first time, an official of the Iranian regime – a so-called diplomat – is put on trial. So we are very happy that finally, justice is being done,” Farzin Hashemi, the Deputy Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee, said.

William Bourdon, representing the NCRI at the trial stressed that the trial of a diplomat directly involved in terrorism shows “how dangerous this regime is to the world.”

George Henri Beauthier, another lawyer of the NCRI described the trial as having “international scale” and emphasized that the regime is “challenging all of the values of Europe.”

The Iranian opposition and the lawyers of the plaintiffs in this case have produced documents and evidence that prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the foiled terror plot had been orchestrated and approved in the regime’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), which is composed of the highest authorities such as regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, regime president Hassan Rouhani, foreign minister Javad Zarif, and intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi. This means that in this case, Assadi is a proxy for the regime’s leaders.

 

 

The true winners in this case are the people of Iran, who have for four decades been the prime victims of the regime’s crimes.

In the court’s first session, Belgian prosecutors demanded a 20-year prison sentence for Assadi; 18 years in prison for Amir Sadouni and Nassimeh Na’ami, the two agents who were to detonate the bomb at the Paris rally of the NCRI; and 15 years for Mehrdad Arefani, the fourth terrorist involved in the plot. The prosecutor also called for the Belgian citizenship of Sadouni, Na’ami, and Arefani to be revoked.

Assadi refused to appear in court, which speaks volumes about how much more there is to this case that the regime wants to hide.

 

 

This trial is the official acknowledgment of the regime’s state-sponsored terrorism and leaves no more room for appeasement with the mullahs. European states, in particular, are at an historic juncture. For many decades, concessions by Western countries have allowed the Iranian regime to become more aggressive in its terrorism. Today, the Iranian regime’s agents are threatening the security of European countries. This trial is a chance for European countries to close the door for the regime’s belligerent behavior once and for all.

How can this happen?

“The European Union and member states whose territories have become the roaming grounds for terrorism by the religious fascism ruling Iran are being judged by the court of public opinion to end the policy of silence vis-à-vis the regime’s terrorism and adopt a decisive policy towards Iran’s medieval regime,” Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI, said in remarks on the Antwerp tribunal.

Madam Rajavi, was the prime target of the foiled bombing plot, called for the terrorist designation of the entirety of the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and the expulsion of all agents of the Iranian regime from European soil, including those who, like Assadi, are operating under diplomatic cover.

“Granting political refugee status and nationality to these operatives by the European countries must be considered a red line as it would pave the path for further terrorism. European countries must shut down the clerical regime’s embassies and the so-called cultural and religious centers, which are in reality centers to coordinate terrorism and espionage,” Rajavi said.

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