An Iranian diplomat on Thursday was convicted of masterminding a foiled bomb attack against an exiled Iranian opposition group in France in 2018.
Assadollah Assadi ,49, was awarded 20 years of imprisonment by a Belgian court after his claim of diplomatic immunity was rejected
This is the first time an Iranian top official had faced such charges in the European Union since the 1979 revolution.
Assadi, who had been contested all the charges against him, had refused to testify in the case, invoking his diplomatic immunity last year.
Three others were also convicted in the case. They were detained during an operation by German, French and Belgian police.
During the trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs and representatives of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq opposition group, or MEK, claimed without offering evidence that the diplomat plotted the attack on the orders of the Iran’s top officials.
Tehran has denied the allegation as fabrication.
The conviction comes at a time when US President Joe Biden’s administration hints at rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Iran also hoped that the new US administration will end the curbs imposed by former President Donald Trump after pulling out of the deal in 2018.
Iranian foreign ministry official has strongly condemned the sentencing of its diplomat. It terms the process as “illegal and a clear violation of international law, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention (on diplomatic relations)”.
On June 30, 2018, Belgian police officers foiled an attack against the annual meeting of the MEK after receiving tip off from secret services officials.
Police officials had recovered 550 grams of the unstable TATP explosive and a detonator from a vehicle.
Assadi was arrested a day later in Germany and transferred to Belgium.
