Iran on Tuesday summoned Belgium’s ambassador in Tehran over the conviction of an Iranian diplomat in a Belgian court on charges of planning to bomb an exiled opposition rally near Paris, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.
On Thursday, Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in the European Union since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
Belgian prosecution lawyers and civil parties to the prosecution said Assadi was found guilty of attempted terrorism over the 2018 plot, which was foiled by German, French and Belgian police.
“The Antwerp Court ruling violates international law and ignores Belgium’s obligations to the Republic of Iran, therefore Iran does not recognize it in any way,” IRNA quoted an Iranian foreign ministry official as telling the ambassador.
Three other Iranians were jailed for 15, 17 and 18 years in the trial for their role as accomplices.
