{"id":319907,"date":"2024-05-27T17:08:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T16:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=319907"},"modified":"2024-05-27T17:08:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T16:08:36","slug":"belgian-court-rejects-mehrdad-arefanis-request-to-go-to-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/ncri-statements\/terrorism-fundamentalism\/belgian-court-rejects-mehrdad-arefanis-request-to-go-to-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian Court Rejects Mehrdad Arefani’s Request to Go to Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NCRI\"<\/h3>\n

\"NCRI<\/h3>\n

Releasing and returning bomb-carrying mercenaries to their masters in Tehran whether through political or judicial means, serves as an incentive for further terrorism and hostage-taking<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mehrdad Arefani<\/a>, an operative of the mullahs’ Intelligence Ministry, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison by the Antwerp court in Belgium, requested to be extradited to Iran and handed over to the regime. He has already served six years of his sentence. Today, the Brussels court dismissed the request of the mercenary. Arefani was part of a terrorist group led by Assadollah Assadi, a regime terrorist-diplomat, who orchestrated the plot to attack the Iranian Resistance\u2019s Free Iran World Summit in Villepinte, Paris, in July 2018.<\/p>\n

The Iranian Resistance applauds the court’s decision and warns against any political or judicial maneuvers that might return this terrorist mercenary to his handlers in Tehran. Such actions would only embolden the mullahs’ regime to perpetrate further acts of terrorism and engage in hostage-taking.<\/p>\n

Arefani\u2019s plea for repatriation to Iran follows a disgraceful deal involving the mullahs’ regime, which saw the release and return of Assadi to Iran a year earlier. Initially, Arefani denied any ties to the Intelligence Ministry and Assadi, asserting his arrest was a mistake. However, police investigations and judicial proceedings firmly established his active role in the conspiracy to bomb the event in Villepinte. Both the lower court and the appeals court sentenced him to 17 years in prison and stripped him of his Belgian citizenship and passport. The Belgian Supreme Court confirmed this sentence on November 17, 2022.<\/p>\n

Mehrdad Arefani was recruited in prison to act against the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran<\/a> (PMOI\/MEK) in the early 1980s and was subsequently sent to Europe. To conceal his role as an agent of the Iranian regime, he posed as an intellectual, poet, and atheist. In the winter of 2017, he traveled to Albania under the guise of accompanying a martyr\u2019s mother, aiming to gather information on the PMOI and their locations within the country. During his visit, Arefani insisted on engaging directly with PMOI officials, but to no avail.<\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a>\u2019s Diplomat #Terrorists<\/a> Trail, Espionage Equipment Found in MOIS Agent Mehrdad Arefani\u2019s House https:\/\/t.co\/JnZZ84iD0r<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 31, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n