The Foreign Ministry of Iran strongly condemned a Belgian court’s ruling against Iranian diplomat Asadollah Asadi, saying the illegal prison sentence has been imposed under the influence of terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).
In a statement on Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said Tehran strongly condemns the 20-year jail term issued by a court in the Belgian city of Antwerp against Iranian diplomat Asadi.
“As we repeatedly announced earlier, all the procedures that have so far been taken against the diplomat, including his arrest, the case brought against him or the conviction, were all unlawful and amounted to blatant violation of international law, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will never recognize it,” he said.
“Unfortunately, Belgium and some European countries have taken such illegal and unjustifiable actions under the influence of the atmosphere that has been created by the hostile MKO terrorist group on Europe’s soil,” Khatibzadeh noted.
Therefore, he added, they must be held accountable for their flagrant violation of the Iranian diplomat’s rights, including the inhumane conditions he faced under arrest in Germany and Belgium.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right to resort to all possible legal and diplomatic means to realize the rights of Mr. Asadollah Asadi and to hold accountable the governments that have violated their international obligations,”the spokesman added, according to the Foreign Ministry’s website.
In June 2018, Belgian authorities said the police had intercepted a car carrying homemade explosives and a detonation device, claiming that Asadi had handed the materials to two people in Belgium earlier.
Asadi, himself, was apprehended in Germany the next day and told he could not apply his diplomatic immunity.
first published on February, 05, 2021