The second session of the trial of the Iranian regime’s terrorist diplomat Assadollah Assadi was taken place on Thursday. The first session was held last Friday, with the prosecutors calling for a 20-year prison sentence for Assadi and 18 and 15 years for his accomplices (Amir Saadouni, Nasimeh Naami Mehrdad Arefani).
The prosecutor made it clear that the target of the failed terrorist plot was Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). It was revealed during the first session that Assadi had told Saadouni and Naami to detonate the bomb as close to her as possible.
The target of the bomb was #MaryamRajavi. After the first of the #Iran uprisings, in 2017 and into 2018, the regime was threatened by the growing following of #NCRI and #MEK and wanted to assert their power and attempt to destroy the resistance movement. #WeStand4FreeIran pic.twitter.com/cn4D8b6Fj1
— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) December 4, 2020
It is clear that Assadi was in charge of the plot and that he was working alongside and in coordination with the Iranian regime. Had the attack not been foiled, hundreds, or even thousands, of attendees of the Free Iran gathering held by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) just outside Paris could have been killed at the end of June 2018.
The Iranian regime is understandably very nervous about the trial, the verdict, and the consequences. Indeed, when Assadi was arrested, the regime and Assadi himself tried everything possible to stop the trial from going ahead. There were promises of trade, threats, hostages, and so on, but to no avail. The trial went ahead.
This is the first time a diplomat has been put on trial for terrorist activities, but it is by no means the first time the regime has used a diplomat to carry out such activities. The ones before him have got away scot-free. During the first session of the trial, the prosecutor emphasized that Assadi has no diplomatic immunity.
Further implicating the entire regime, the prosecutor highlighted that Assadi was working with the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and had been using his diplomatic status to his advantage. It was made very clear that Assadi was not working on his own initiative – there were much higher powers involved.
It was also mentioned during the session that the Iranian regime did not allow Assadi to attend the trial and that he had been instructed to avoid answering questions and to refuse to cooperate. If the regime had no involvement, why would it implicate itself by making such requests?
The Iranian regime, right up to the last minute, called on the Belgian court overseeing the trial to declare itself as incompetent to judge the case. This says a lot about the regime that it thinks it can win over or influence European courts.
The NCRI has spoken out about the trial, with a member of its Foreign Affairs Committee Farzin Hashemi saying that the court is of course competent and that the Iranian Resistance welcomes the trial. Mr. Hashemi said that the regime’s blackmail and other tactics failed, explaining that giving in to the regime’s demands, blackmail or threats are “counterproductive” and serve only to “embolden the regime to resort to more terrorism”.
The trial should really make European governments rethink their policies towards Iran. It is the perfect opportunity for appeasement policies to end and for the regime’s belligerence to be dealt with once and for all.
#Iran regime’s diplomat-terrorist on Trial #ShutDownIranTerrorEmbassies #IWasATarget https://t.co/vtbf1NEGWB pic.twitter.com/1qCGm5M1OE
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 4, 2020
and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube
