The Iranian resistance movement, (NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran) was undoubtedly the target of the attack and information shows that the attempt to blow up the rally had been planned and organized from Tehran.

An Iranian diplomat at the center of a terrorism trial in Antwerp, Belgium, is invoking diplomatic immunity to avoid being convicted of playing a major part in planning a bomb attack on an Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), rally near Paris two years ago attended by Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lawyer, and many other foreign politicians and officials.

The bomb attack was thwarted by European anti-terror forces and police after intelligence supplied to them, or so it has been alleged.

The diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, was based at the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, Austria. It is alleged that he carried 500g of TATP explosive in his diplomatic bag (so avoiding detection) from Tehran on an Austrian Airlines flight. He then took the explosive to Luxembourg when it was delivered to an Iranian – Belgian couple who had been co-opted to do the dirty work of planting the bomb at a rally organized by the man Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

The couple had been under watch for some time and was apprehended on their way to Paris where the rally was due to take place carrying the explosive with them. Another operative who was arrested later on was an Iranian –Belgian poet who was arrested in France.

Assadi himself was arrested on his way back to Vienna from Luxembourg by German police. The fact that he was in Germany when arrested means that he cannot claim diplomatic immunity as this is something that he can only claim in the country where he is a recognized diplomat, i.e. Austria.

The Iranian resistance movement, (NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran) was undoubtedly the target of the attack and insists that it has information that shows that the attempt to blow up the rally had been planned and organized from Tehran, most probably involving the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

The lawyers for the main component of the NCRI, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), say they have evidence that the regime in Tehran “authorized the death of thousands of people.”

The claim is based on the fact that at least 100,000 people were due to attend the rally, mainly supporters and members of the Iranian diaspora who support the idea of replacing the Iranian regime with a democratic alternative. The bomb, if it had been explored, could have killed many hundreds of people and injured many more and may have been potentially one of the worst terrorist massacres ever known in Europe.

In addition to Rudy Giuliani, there were several other U.S. representatives, as well as British, European, and South American parliamentarians and ex-parliamentarians any number of whom could have been killed.

Assadi may be refusing to take part in the trial, invoking immunity, but it is likely that the trial will be an important testing point for the Iranian regime and European governments who have largely avoided confronting Tehran directly up to now, despite the fact that terror attacks on Europeans soil are not exactly new.

“It’s the first time that, symbolically, the mullahs’ regime is in the dock and will be judged through the case against its so-called diplomats,” a French lawyer, William Bourdon, said outside the courthouse.

The trial is likely to take two days, but may not be decided until early next year.

The abridged article was written by Lee Brown for the New York Post.

and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube