Foreign Affairs Committee takes a stronger stance against Iran in the Djalali case

The Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations has urgently adopted a resolution on Dr Ahmadreza Djalali. After intensive debate, it was decided to take a stronger position against Iran, at the request of the N-VA, by making it clear to them that the execution of Dr Ahmadreza Djalali will have dire consequences for our bilateral relations and our attitude in international forums.

Ahmadreza Djalali has been imprisoned in Iran since April 2016. After a mock trial and torture, he was sentenced to death. Unfortunately, the many international efforts to secure his release never yielded anything. The Iranian regime remains unrelenting. Professor Ahmadreza Djalali has been placed in isolation, and everything points towards an impending execution.

No coincidence at the start of the trial of Iranian terrorists

It does not seem very coincidental that just now, on Thursday 3 December, a trial is starting in Antwerp. This is a trial of three terrorists who, two years ago, were ordered by the Iranian regime to carry out a gruesome attack on a meeting in Paris of thousands of Iranian dissidents and foreign dignitaries.

An Iranian diplomat in exchange for Ahmadreza Djalali

The Islamic Republic of Iran often takes European citizens hostage and then exchanges them at an appropriate time with an imprisoned Iranian in Europe. There could in this case also be a proposal from the Iranian authorities to exchange one of the arrested terrorists, Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat, with the professor sentenced to death.

“It is clear that the Iranian regime is desperate and so they want to put even more pressure on the threat to execute Professor Djalali,” the N-VA said. “It is therefore a strong signal that the External Relations Committee has decided to take a stronger stance against Iran by making it clear to them that the execution of Dr Ahmadreza Djalali will have dire consequences for our bilateral relations and our attitude in international forums.”