Belgium: Iranian diplomat jailed for 20 years over bomb plot in France

(Brussels)  A Iranian diplomat has been jailed for 20 years by a court in Belgium over a foiled bombing in the first trial of an Iranian official for planning to carry out an act of terrorism  in Europe since Iran's 1979 revolution.

Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi was found guilty on February 4 of attempted terrorism after a plot to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, near Paris in June 2018. Three other defendants also received jail sentences.

 The planned attack on the rally was thwarted by acoordinated operation between French, German, and Belgian security services. Assadi, who refused to appear in court, invoking his diplomatic status, was arrested while on holiday in Germany and handed over to Belgium . Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh "strongly" condemned the sentencing, calling it "illegal and a clear violation of international law, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention,"

A little rich for the Iranian government to cite international law when it goes out of its way to harass diplomat staff inside Iran. Expect a EU dual citizen to be arrested on bogus charges inside Iran in which to force Belgium to release their diplomatic terrorist