An Iranian diplomat today went on trial in Belgium accused of plotting to bomb a 2018 Paris conference attended by five British MPs and US President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Assadollah Assadi, 48, is accused of smuggling a bomb made from ‘Mother of Satan’ explosives to Europe from Tehran in a diplomatic bag that was exempt from airport security checks ahead of the event.
Prosecutors say he then handed the bag off to accomplices who were supposed to plant it at a summit held by Iranian opposition leaders in Paris.
Speakers at the rally included CFI Vice-Chair Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP, CFI Officers Bob Blackman MP and Matthew Offord MP, Sir David Amess and former Labour MP Roger Godsiff.
Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer and former New York mayor; and Bill Richardson, former US Ambassador to the UN, were also at the rally.
Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP, who spoke on Britain’s behalf at the conference, told The Sun: “Sending a bomb to Europe in a diplomatic bag on a commercial flight is an outrage… If the court decides that is what happened it will be shocking. I feel I’ve had a lucky escape”.
Prosecutors say Assadi, 48, carried the bomb on a commercial flight from Tehran to Vienna, where he was ambassador, ahead of the conference which took place on 3oth June 2018. He allegedly handed the explosives to a Belgian-Iranian couple – Nassimeh Naami, 36, and Amir Saadouni, 40 – who took the bomb by car towards Paris.
En route, Belgian police stopped the vehicle near Antwerp and discovered 1lbs of TATP explosives, known as the ‘Mother of Satan’ – the same kind used in the Manchester Arena bombing – inside, along with a detonator.
The couple were arrested, while Assadi was detained later while travelling through Germany where he was not protected by diplomatic immunity.
Also on trial is Mehrdad Arefani, 57, an Iranian poet who has lived in Belgium for half a decade and is also accused of participating in the plot.
All four will face life sentences if convicted. They are charged with attempting to carry out a terrorist attack and taking part in the activity of a terrorist group.
According to prosecutors, the intended target was Maryam Rajavi, the head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
