Two men and a woman, alleged accomplices in a planned attack against an Iranian opposition rally in France in 2018, appeared on Wednesday before the Antwerp Court of Appeal, where they risk up to twenty years of jail.
The protagonist of the case, Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, 49, is not affected by this new trial.
He did not wish to appeal his conviction at first instance in February to twenty years' imprisonment, the sentence requested by the federal prosecution.
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A bomb attack was to target on June 30, 2018 in Villepinte, near Paris, the large annual gathering of the National Council of Iranian Resistance (NCRI), a coalition of opponents of the Tehran regime whose main component is the organization of the People's Mojahedin (MEK).
The same day, a Belgian-Iranian couple living in Antwerp was arrested by the Belgian police near Brussels in possession of 500 grams of TATP explosive and a detonator in their car.
Belgian anti-terrorism justice is seized and investigators quickly go back to the alleged sponsor, Assadollah Assadi.
This diplomat, then stationed at the Iranian embassy in Vienna, was arrested on July 1 in Germany where he no longer enjoys his immunity.
"A bloodbath"
In addition to Amir Saadouni and Nasimeh Naami, the couple who were to go to the meeting with a bomb, a third alleged accomplice, Mehrdad Arefani, was arrested on June 30, 2018. Responsible for scouting in Villepinte, he was arrested in France and then handed over to Belgian justice. At first instance Nasimeh Naami, 37, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, the Antwerp court underlining her particularly "
manipulative
" personality, and her companion Amir Saadouni, 41, to a firm sentence of 15 years. Mehrdad Arefani, a 58-year-old dissident poet, presented as an Iranian intelligence agent acting from Belgium, received a 17-year prison sentence. All three were present at the opening of the trial at the Antwerp Court of Appeal on Wednesday, the court told AFP.
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This dossier, mixing espionage and terrorism, has sparked diplomatic tensions between Tehran and several European capitals, including Paris.
On February 4, after the announcement of the court ruling imposing the maximum sentence on Assadollah Assadi, Iran again denounced a judicial process "
illegal and in flagrant violation of international law
".
According to Tehran, the diplomatic immunity of Assadollah Assadi has been violated.
Targeted opponents denounced for their part a project relating to "
state terrorism
", which could have caused "
a bloodbath.
»While thousands of people attended this meeting in Villepinte.
After the trial scheduled until Thursday, the appeal court will put its decision under advisement.
It should not be known for several weeks.
