Iranian diplomat denied basic rights in EU prisons

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Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi's wife, in a series of posts on Twitter on Sunday, publicized details of the treatment her husband is being subjected to in German and Belgian prisons, which if true, may constitute a violation of his human rights. 

Assadi was arrested in Germany in 2018 and is currently serving 20 years in prison sentence in Belgium. Recalling a very painful experience on Twitter, she revealed the inhumane circumstances that her husband had gone through in European prisons.

She revealed that Assadi was kept in a bunker for 28 days with no access to water, while being hygienically deprived. The diplomat was kept in German detention for a total of 101 days. 

“In the bunker (28 days in total), I was denied access to water and had to request it via a phone, and if the guards came on time, which was often late, they would give me water in a paper cup through the hatch door,” she quoted her husband as saying.

Kept under psychological pressure

“Naturally, water was important to me, because in addition to drinking water, I needed water for cleansing in the toilet and ablution for prayers,” he said. “I was only allowed to brush my teeth once in the morning during day and night. Only once was I allowed to wash my hands with soap; only once was I allowed to dry my hands with a towel.”

He was also stripped of his personal belongings and was kept under psychological pressure from the guards, alongside his privacy being violated repeatedly. 

“My glasses were confiscated in the bunker every evening and the next day, they returned them at my request. In recent days, I managed to get a pen and paper from them. The pen was also taken in the evening,” the Iranian diplomat said.

“In the conditions of being kept in the cell, I could take a shower with the door closed while bathing. But in the bunker, accompanied by the guard, I was taken to the distribution room (where clothes and hygiene items are stored) and there was a shower without a door, and I had to shower in front of the guard, and the guard was obliged not to take his eyes off [me].”

While in police custody, Assadi was subjected to long, coercive interrogations. 

“Throughout the entire interrogation, they tried to fabricate evidence for their unjust accusation by telling blatant lies,” he was quoted as saying. “In a really condescending manner, in order for me to speak in line with their views during the interrogation, they tried to pressurize me through all structures and prepare me for a forced confession.”

Trumped-up charges

According to legal experts, Assadi's case was based on unsubstantiated charges, and serves political propaganda against Tehran.

Belgian authorities contend that the Iranian diplomat handed material for a homemade explosive installed in a car that the police intercepted. They accused him of planning an attack against the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) terrorist unit. 

It's worth noting that the MKO terrorist organization is responsible for killing 12,000 Iranians since the 1979 revolt - that number is extracted from a hefty 17,000 Iranians who fell victim to terrorism from '79 and onwards. 

One of the MKO's most potent attacks was a 1981 bombing that leveled the Islamic Republic Party's headquarters in Tehran, which took the life of prominent jurist, philosopher, and politician Ayatollah Mohammad Hossein Beheshti along with 72 other thinkers, lawmakers, and ministers.

Fleeing to Iraq in 1986, MKO terrorists were accommodated by then-dictator Saddam Hussein, whom they sided with in the war against Iran. Today, the MKO are based in Albania. Since being delisted as a terrorist organization in 2012, the MKO's leader Maryam Rajavi has been conducting anti-Iran operations and furthering cooperation with Western countries.