“Assadollah Assadi, a diplomat of the Islamic Republic held hostage, will return to the Islamic homeland in a few hours after enduring five years of captivity,” Kanaani said in a statement on Friday.
Belgian police arrested Assadi in June 2018, accusing him of plotting an attack against the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO) terrorist organization, a claim that has been strongly rejected by the former diplomat and Iranian authorities.
A Belgian court then sentenced Assadi, who served as the third counselor at Iran's Embassy in Vienna, to 20 years in prison.
Kanaani said Assadi’s case was part of “the Zionist-American ‘big lie’ scenario aimed at creating a crisis in Iran-Europe relations.”
“This conspiracy was carried out immediately after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA agreement,” the spokesman added, referring to the Iran nuclear deal, from which the US withdrew in 2018.
“After the arbitrary detention of the Iranian diplomat, they politically and deliberately sentenced him to 20 years in prison in a staged and completely managed trial,” he noted.
Iran had repeatedly protested and condemned the violation of Assadi's diplomatic immunity and made every effort to secure his release, Kanaani said, adding that an agreement was finally reached in that regard following negotiations between foreign ministers of Iran and Belgium.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also confirmed in Tweet that “our innocent diplomat who had been held for five years in Germany and Belgium illegally and in contravention of international law is now on his way home.”
He also appreciated the Sultanate of Oman for its positive efforts.
**9417
Your Comment