Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, February 8, 2021—The supporters and the sympathizers of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and other people across Iran celebrated an Antwerp, Belgium court verdict of 20 years imprisonment for Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat who plotted to bomb the rally of the Iranian opposition in 2018 in Villepinte, near Paris.
Assadi carried the explosives in a diplomatic bag from Tehran and handed them over to Belgian-Iranian terrorists in Antwerp who were arrested on June 30 on their way to the rally. Assadi was arrested on July 1, 2018, in Germany. Assadi was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, and this caused major joy and happiness among Iranians around the world and in particular in Iran.
In cities such as Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Eslamshahr, Kermanshah, and Bushehr, MEK supporters held up handwritten slogans that read “Congratulations for the victory of justice.”
An MEK supporter and member of the Resistance Units, MEK’s internal network, said in a video message from Tehran, “I salute you from Tehran. I congratulate this victory to the Iranian people. This shows our struggle is just. As Massoud Rajavi said, anywhere where there is justice, the Iranian Resistance will achieve victory. We have overcome. For the first time since the Second World War, a diplomat who carried a bomb was arrested and prosecuted. The mullahs must get lost from our country. With the hope to see you all in Tehran.”
While echoing the slogans “After Assadi, it is Khamenei’s turn” a person from Mashhad said, “I congratulate the people of Iran, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, and all the MEK members in Ashraf 3 on the historic victory of the Resistance in the Antwerp court and the condemnation of the mullahs’ regime.”
In various areas of Isfahan, huge posters of Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) were installed. The posters read “Down with Khamenei, hail to freedom,” and “The Antwerp court verdict is a major blow for the mullahs’ regime and Khamenei.”
In Ahvaz and Bushehr, the Resistance Units distributed handwritten slogans and booklets that read “Hail to Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, Down with (regime supreme leader Ali) Khamenei”
These activities show the enormous happiness and joy among Iranians in Iran and around the world who have suffered from the Iranian regime’s terrorism and repression for more than 40 years.
It is also extremely courageous to carry out these activities while supporting the MEK is punishes with heavy sentences.
Many regime officials have acknowledged MEK’s growth and expansion of activities inside Iran in the past two years. The MEK Resistance Units have held daily anti-regime campaigns across the country while risking arrest and imprisonment.
Regime officials frustrated at court verdict
While the people of Iran are celebrating the historic verdict against the regime’s state-sponsored terrorism, regime officials are expressing frustration at what could be a turning point for their foreign policy.
On Saturday, Abdolreza Azizi, member of the Majlis (parliament) security committee, criticized the regime’s foreign ministry for not preventing the sentencing of Assadi and said, “The security committee will pursue the situation of our diplomat through legal channels… The jailing of an Islamic Republic diplomat shows the depth of the hatred of the enemies of Iran.”
Meanwhile, the state-run Keyhan Daily, lamented the conviction of Assadi and wrote, “Despite Assadi’s legal claim that he had diplomatic immunity and his refusal to attend the court proceedings, the Europeans ignored this issue, arrested him, held the court, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.”
It is worth noting that the judges rejected Assadi’s diplomatic immunity claims, reminding that he was out of Austria, his country of mission, and on a vacation trip. And even if he was still in Austria, diplomatic immunity would not cover terrorist attempts against a mass civilian gathering.
Keyhan further warned, “The Europeans have set a precedent that, if not responded to properly, will become a common procedure in European countries against our country.”
