Asadollah Asadi (, born 1972) is a former

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

of the

Iranian embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of Iran. Iran has a substantial diplomatic network, reflecting its foreign affairs priorities within the Islamic and Non-Aligned world. In Washington, D.C. the Embassy of Pakistan looks after the interests of ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He was found guilty in the

Iranian diplomat terror plot trial On 27 November 2020, Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi and three other Iranian citizens were tried in Belgium, charged with plotting to bomb a 2018 rally of National Council of Resistance of Iran, a political wing of the exiled Iranian political p ...

Arrest and trial

Asadi was arrested while returning to his residence in Austria on a highway in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

state of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

on June 10, 2018, accused of being involved in an attempted bombing at a gathering of the

National Council of Resistance of Iran The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI; ) is an Iranian political organization based in France and Albania and was founded by Massoud Rajavi and Abolhassan Banisadr. The organization is a political coalition calling to overthrow the I ...

(a political organisation opposing the Iranian regime) in Villepinte, north of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. While Asadi was entitled to

diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

in the country of his posting, Austria, he did not have political immunity on German soil, although Iran objected, saying that it regarded the detention of Assadollah Assadi as unlawful and a violation of international law and the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention which only covers diplomats from any arrest in their host country. Belgian judicial authorities said that Asadi, along with two others, Nasim Naami (33 نسیم نعامی) and Amir Saadoni (امیر سعدونی 38), were suspects.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs () is an Iranian government ministry headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is a member of cabinet. The office is currently held by Abbas Araghchi after the death of Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Foreign poli ...

Javad Zarif Mohammad Javad Zarif (; born 8 January 1960) is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He served as the vice president for strategic affairs from August 2024 to March 2025.violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

everywhere and is ready to address any concerns in this regard.

Detention in Belgium

Asadi, Naami, Saadoni, and Mehrdad Arefani were put on trial by a Belgian court. On 4 February 2021, Asadi was sentenced to 20 years for “attempted murder and involvement in terrorism.” During the trial, it emerged that the high-potential bomb used for the attack was transported inside a diplomatic suitcase and that the official, based in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, left the diplomatic headquarters 289 times to travel around

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. A lawyer for the prosecution commented after the trial, "The ruling shows two things: a diplomat doesn't have immunity for criminal acts ... and the responsibility of the Iranian state in what could have been carnage."

Release

On May 26, 2023 it was announced that Asadollah Asadi had been freed following a

prisoner swap A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conventions Under the Geneva Conve ...

for Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian humanitarian worker who was arrested in Iran in 2022, charged with spying, money laundering and currency smuggling and sentenced to 40 years of prison in 2023 following a sham trial.

References

1972 births Living people 21st-century Iranian diplomats People convicted on terrorism charges Prisoners and detainees of Belgium Prisoner exchanges {{Iran-diplomat-stub

Arrest and trial

Detention in Belgium

Release

See also

References