Spokesman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Saeed Khatibzadeh condemned the Belgian court's decision to issue a 20-year prison sentence for Iranian diplomat Assadollah Asadi.

In response to the Belgian Court of Antwerp’s ruling on Iranian diplomat Assadollah Asadi, Khatibzadeh said that the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns the announcement of the Belgian Court of Antwerp to issue a 20-year prison sentence for Asadi.

He added that as Iran has stated many times before, all stages of Asadi's detention, the judicial process, the issuance of the recent sentence are illegal and it is a clear violation of international law, particularly the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Unfortunately, Belgium and some European countries, under the influence of the machination of the terrorist group Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) in Europe, have committed such an illegal and unjustifiable act. Therefore, they should be held accountable for the gross violations of the rights of the Iranian diplomat, including the inhumane conditions that he faced while in detention in Germany and Belgium, he went on to say.

Khatibzadeh pointed out that Iran reserves the right to resort to all possible legal and diplomatic means to exercise the rights of Assadollah Asadi and to hold accountable governments that have violated their international obligations.

Assadollah Asadi, Iran's diplomat in Austria was detained July 1, 2018, while passing through Germany.

The arrest took place due to an arrest warrant by a court in Belgium and on unfounded and baseless charges. After that, the Austrian government revoked Asadi's diplomatic immunity and he was handed over to Belgium. The Iranian diplomat's case was referred to the court in July 2020 after a delay of two years.