Iran HR council denounces illegal trial of Tehran diplomat

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Kazem Gharibabadi, the Secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, protesting the arrest of Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi.

Gharibabadi expressed deep concern over the violation of Assadi's rights by the governments of Belgium and Germany.

In the letter, Gharibabadi said that despite enjoying diplomatic immunity, Assadi was arrested in July 2018 in Germany on his way back to his Vienna residence.

"After 101 days in custody, Assadi was extradited to Belgium in October 2018 pursuant to an unlawful ruling issued by the Karlsruhe court, after which, the Antwerp criminal court illegally sentenced him to twenty years in jail irrespective of diplomatic immunity thereof by virtue of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. He is currently imprisoned in Belgium."

In the letter, Gharibabadi listed the different ways in which Assadi's human and diplomatic rights were violated by the two countries, citing Article 40 of the Vienna Convention, the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, and clarifying that Germany violated them in its detention of Assadi.

Meanwhile, he explained that Belgium violated Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as  Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Belgium also violated its obligations under Articles 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Gharibabadi also explained that Assadi has personally declared these instances of human rights violations but received no attention from German and Belgian authorities.

Assadi was arrested in 2018 and was accused by German and Belgian authorities of being involved in a bombing attempt on the MEK in France, which he completely denied. The arrest was condemned at the time by former Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"How surprising it is that at the same time as our (Iranian delegation) traveled to Europe with the President of Iran, Iran's alleged operation was launched and one person was arrested. Iran explicitly condemns violence and terrorism everywhere and is ready to address any concerns in this regard."