The Brussels Court of Appeal on Friday evening issued a ruling temporarily banning the Belgian government from extraditing the Iranian regime’s convicted diplomat-terrorist Assadollah Assadi to Iran. Assadi was sentenced in Belgium on February 4, 2021, to 20 years in prison for his direct role in a thwarted bomb attack targeting the “Free Iran” gathering held in 2018 just north of Paris.
Several of the plaintiffs, including victims who had registered as civil parties to the trial of Assadi and his three accomplices, and the National Council for the Resistance in Iran (NCRI), filed summary proceedings immediately after Wednesday’s vote in the Belgian Parliament on a bill that would render their extraditions between Brussels and Tehran.
BREAKING
Belgian Court prohibits the extradition (and relief) of the Iranian Diplomat/Terrorist Assadi to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The worldfamous former Columbian FARC hostage
Ingrid Betancourt started a case against the Belgian state @alexanderdecroo @VincentVQ pic.twitter.com/l37jP6EBiQ— Theo Francken MP (@FranckenTheo) July 22, 2022
NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi, former Algerian prime minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Italian foreign minister Giulio Terzi, former Colombian presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt, Senator Robert Torricelli, former White House director for public liaison Linda Chavez, former UNAMI human rights office chief Tahar Boumedra, NCRI Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman Mohammad Mohaddessin, NCRI Judiciary Commission Chairman Dr. Sanabargh Zahedi, Javad Dabiran, Deputy NCRI Representative in Germany, and Farzin Hashemi, NCRI Representative in international courts were all involved in the proceedings.
After being turned down by the Brussels court of first instance on Thursday, the plaintiffs continued their efforts and eventually won their appeal on Friday.
The court ordered Brussels to be “provisionally prohibited, on pain of a fine of €500,000, from releasing Assadi […] from the Belgian prison where he is serving a sentence of 20 years […] and transferring him to any foreign state whatsoever,” especially Iran, according to The Brussels Times.
La justice belge démontre que nous sommes encore ds un État de droit:
Traité avec l'Iran: la justice bruxelloise suspend tout transfèrement d'Assadollah Assadi vers l'Iran – La Libre https://t.co/6Uw8wutMfh— Georges Dallemagne (@G_Dallemagne) July 22, 2022
The court stipulated that the rights of the plaintiffs “could be irreparably violated” if Assadi were transferred over to Iranian regime authorities, without the possibility of an adversarial procedure, being a hearing where both parties are present or represented by a lawyer. The ban will apply until such a hearing is held, according to the court ruling.
The plaintiffs now need to summon Brussels within 24 hours before the French-speaking court of first instance in the Belgian capital for the adversarial hearing.
https://twitter.com/MichaelFreilich/status/1550531603247423492
Background
The Belgian Parliament passed a controversial prisoner swap deal with the Iranian regime, a shameful agreement that can render the release of Assadi.
“The Iranian Resistance strongly condemns the endorsement of the shameful deal with the clerical regime and considers it the highest incentive for the religious fascism ruling Iran to step up terrorism and to use hostage-taking as much as possible for the release of its arrested terrorists and agents. Many prominent jurists declared this to be a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373,” reads an NCRI statement condemning the prisoner exchange deal with Tehran.
NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi reiterated that based on the documents of Assadi’s case, back in March 2020 he had threatened terrorist measures against Belgium by Iran-backed armed groups in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Treaty With Mullahs Encourages Further Terrorism and Hostage-taking
Iranian Resistance Will Continue Examining All Political and Legal Avenues and Options To Prevent Extradition of Terrorist-diplomat to #Iran#DontFreeTerrorists #No2Appeasementhttps://t.co/rYgIXQ5hxF— Mohammad Mohaddessin (@Mohaddessin) July 21, 2022
This agreement was approved in the face of widespread opposition by Iranian refugees in Europe, opposition political parties in Belgium, alongside a long list of jurists, associations, and human rights organizations. Even a number of MPs of the ruling coalition were against this deal, criticizing the measure as it will lead to further acts of terrorism by the mullahs’ regime in Belgium and all of Europe.
The Iranian opposition coalition NCRI led a global campaign that saw international jurists, Belgian political parties and MPs, and lawmakers and political dignitaries across the U.S. and Europe criticize Brussels’ deal with Tehran.
“This parliament makes no international difference.”
Except for the Iran deal. There she chooses the wrong side of history. What a first. Terrible this,” said Belgian MP Theo Franckin in response to the bill’s adoption.
Dit parlement maakt geen internationaal verschil. Behalve over de Irandeal. Daar kiest ze voor de verkeerde kant van de geschiedenis. Wat een primeur. Vreselijk dit.
De dag dat de Ayatollahs nog maar eens toeslaan, zal ik Vivaldi aan deze stemming herinneren. pic.twitter.com/87snOBdpQL
— Theo Francken MP (@FranckenTheo) July 20, 2022
Any transfer of criminals responsible for acts of terrorism and human rights violations, prior to seeing their legal punishment, will encourage and succumb to acts of terrorism, hostage taking, human rights violations, and is in violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
“We reiterate our demand of the Belgian government once again that it must immediately release this Iranian diplomat. He must be cleared of all charges. They must compensate him for his troubles,” said Iranian regime Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani during his Wednesday press briefing.
Influential Belgian MP Denis Ducarme of the Liberal Party left the Parliament in protest to the bill and pressures by the Belgian government to have it adopted by all means.
A moment that @ducarmedenis leaves the parliament to not vote the shameful treaty, the history will recall this moment and this MP.#DontFreeTerrorists pic.twitter.com/yJAhEnArrn
— Ali Bagheri (@Bagheri_Ali_) July 20, 2022
While pro-appeasement parties and circles in the West are justifying this latest deal with the Iranian regime, the release of a Belgian hostage in Iran will be on step forward and 100 steps backward, Mrs. Rajavi said in message on July 14. From this day forward all European and American citizens in Iran will be considered potential hostages.
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in chief of Kayhan daily, the mouthpiece of Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, raised new threats on Wednesday. “If Iranian citizens don’t enjoy security in European cities, why should European citizens enjoy security in Iran?” he wrote.
There are currently at least 19 hostages held by the regime in Iran and the number could quite naturally be far higher.
Even with the adoption of this bill, there is a one-month period before it becomes bind. This provides a time period for legal and political measures to prevent the transfer of Iranian regime’s terrorists to Iran, especially Assadollah Assadi and his accomplices, and others who may in the future resort to terrorism and human rights violations on Belgian soil.
One of the most important methods is through the Constitutional Court of Belgium that Brussels should expect measures from various organizations, including the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The matter can also be referred to the European Court of Human Rights.
https://twitter.com/MichaelFreilich/status/1550006850518749184
Following Shariatmadari’s threats, some analysts believe that the Iranian regime has practically already launched a new round of hostage-taking measures. During the past few years, we have seen a significant number of European nationals being arrested and sentenced to jail in Iran. In the past few months alone, a Belgian medical aid and a Dutch citizen have been arrested and convicted in Iran. Many details of why they were arrested and handed such sentences remain unclear.
These indicate that Tehran’s hostage-taking policy has intensified, especially following the court cases of Assadi in Brussels and former Iranian regime official Hamid Noury in Stockholm. Noury has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the summer 1988 prison massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, consisting mostly of PMOI/MEK members and supporters.
