![\"European-countries\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/European-countries.jpg\" "\\"European-countries\\"")
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On Wednesday, a group of 21 former government ministers representing 16 different European nations issued a declaration criticizing the Belgian government\u2019s plan to release<\/a> a convicted Iranian terrorist as part of a prisoner swap with the clerical regime.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Brussels and Tehran negotiated a treaty in March for the \u201cTransfer of Sentenced Persons,\u201d which was approved by the Belgian parliament in July and by the regime\u2019s parliament in August. That approval process was somewhat fraught, with the Belgian opposition party raising strong objections which anticipated the content of Wednesday\u2019s declaration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The treaty was negotiated with the explicit intention of being applied to the case of Assadollah Assadi<\/a>. That regime\u2019s diplomat-terrorist was arrested in July 2018, in the immediate aftermath of a failed attempt to bomb a rally that had been organized just outside Paris by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The event was attended by tens of thousands of Iranian expatriates, as well as hundreds of international dignitaries, including some of the signers of Wednesday\u2019s declaration. Assadi\u2019s trial and the underlying investigation established that the 500 grams of TATP<\/a> he had smuggled into Europe from Iran would have been sufficient to kill hundreds of those attendees in the initial blast, with the death toll potentially rising into the thousands from an ensuing stampede in the enclosed space.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Such a death toll would have qualified Assadi\u2019s operation as the worst terrorist attack on European soil to date. This presumably contributed to the decision by the judge in his case to impose the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. In a separate case, three co-conspirators received sentences of between 17 and 18 years, as well as having their Belgian citizenship revoked.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Assadi was also blacklisted as a terrorist by the European Union, becoming one of only 20 people of any nationality to earn that distinction. This reflects widespread awareness of his culpability for the Paris terror plot, and also of the fact that he was acting as an agent of the Iranian regime when trying to carry it out. That fact was highlighted in Wednesday\u2019s declaration, to suggest that the Belgian government was at risk of undermining a \u201ccommon objective of all European countries\u201d by failing to pursue full accountability for an act of state terrorism<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Such terrorism, the ministers said at the outset of their statement, \u201cis a growing threat to our democratic values.\u201d They went on to argue that \u201csending Assadi back to Iran would make a mockery of the rule of law in Europe and foster further impunity for the Iranian government and its officials who are involved in terrorism and crimes against humanity.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The declaration highlights the NCRI\u2019s action in filing a complaint<\/a> with the Brussels Court of Appeal, which resulted in a temporary injunction against any plans to release Assadi in the wake of the new treaty\u2019s implementation. Separately, supporters of the NCRI\u2019s main constituent group, the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, have filed suit against the Iranian regime\u2019s president in a US district court, alleging his involvement in crimes against humanity that killed their loved ones.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dozens of Belgian & int'l human rights experts, alongside 21 former heads of EU countries send letters to the Belgian PM calling on him not to return #Iran<\/a> regime's convicted terrorist diplomat who used his diplomatic status to carry out a bombing against Iranian Resistance https:\/\/t.co\/CTt9sPVXWD<\/a><\/p>\n — Dowlat Nowrouzi (@DowlatNowrouzi) September 16, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n