The Belgian-Iranian extradition treaty has raised concerns among Iranian opposition figures in Europe, who said it was “tailor-made” to pardon an Iranian diplomat imprisoned in Belgium after a 2021 conviction for terrorism.
In February 2021, a court in Antwerp (North) sentenced diplomat Asdallah Asadi to twenty years in prison specifically for “attempts of a terrorist nature.”
The court concluded that Asadi was the main mastermind behind the planning of the bomb attack, which targeted the June 30, 2018, annual meeting of Iran’s National Resistance Council, in Villepinte, near Paris. This council is a coalition of opponents of Iran, the main component of which is the Mujahideen People’s Organization (Khalq).
Iran’s National Resistance Council, which was the civilian side of the lawsuit, fears that Asadi will be extradited to Iran if the Belgian parliament approves a text proposed to it by the government, stressing that the text will “facilitate the return” of Asadi.
The text refers to a bilateral agreement signed “in Brussels on 11 March 2022” between the Belgian Ministry of Justice and Iranian Ambassador to Brussels Gholamhossein Deghani, according to a copy obtained by AFP.
The text will be discussed starting Tuesday morning in a parliamentary committee and could be put to a vote on Thursday, a source in parliament said. The treaty was included in the draft law along with four other international texts, including judicial cooperation treaties with India and the United Arab Emirates.
The Belgian-Iranian treaty states that the “best way” to strengthen criminal cooperation is to allow the convicted “to face punishment in their original social environment” and thus be extradited to their country if they are punished in another signatory state.
Shame on all governments
Article 13 of this treaty states that “the parties may declare an amnesty for the convicted, release them or commute the sentence.”
Today, on Monday, the Belgian agents of the “National Council of the Resistance of Iran” Georges-Henri Poitier, Rick Vanrosel and the French William Bourdon protested, saying that this article “will allow the Islamic Republic of Iran to pardon, release or commute the sentences of those convicted.”
And in a joint statement by the three lawyers, it was said that “the extradition of a terrorist to a state that intended to blow up on his behalf and on his behalf a peaceful assembly, in which tens of thousands of people in Europe participate, is a shame for everyone.” government.”
And opposition centrist Belgian MP Georges Dalmany considered the text “detailed by Assadian analogy”, although the government “will present it as a humanitarian operation” in connection with the arrest of many Europeans in Iran.
When Asadi was convicted on February 4, 2021, Poitier’s lawyer raised concerns about “heavy Iranian pressure” that could be brought to bear to “compromise” the prisoner exchange, given the case of the Iranian-Swedish scientist on death row. in Iran on charges of espionage., great sympathy in Belgium.
Jalali was sentenced to death in 2017 on charges of spying for Israel and providing information to his intelligence service (Mossad) about two Iranian nuclear scientists who facilitated their assassination between 2010 and 2012.
Jalali, who lived in Stockholm where he worked at the Karolinska Medical Institute, was arrested during a 2016 visit to Iran.
In February 2018, while he was in custody, Sweden granted him Swedish citizenship.
A spokesman for the Belgian Minister of Justice, Vincent van Keukenborn, confirmed that “the Belgian government has nothing to do with the Jalali case.”
“The minister will give his opinion tomorrow, Tuesday,” spokesman Edward Landscher said, starting at 10:00 (08:00 GMT) in front of the deputies of the foreign relations committee “on the scope of the agreement with Iran.”
