TEHRAN – President Ebrahim Raisi has met with Assadollah Assadi, the Iranian diplomat who has recently been released from a Belgian prison. 

The meeting take place on Friday when President Raisi paid a visit to the house of Assadi. 

Congratulated Assadi on his release, Raisi said, “The claimants of human rights have shown once again that they do not adhere to any law and violated the international rules, regulations, and principles by violating the diplomatic immunity of the Iranian diplomat in a clear and unprecedented manner.”

Assadi was detained in Belgium in 2018 over charges of trying to target an Iranian opposition group. He had been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

He was serving as the third secretary of Iran’s embassy in Austria at the time of his arrest.

In June 2018, Belgian officials said that two persons in Belgium received homemade bombs from an Iranian diplomat after Belgium's police had stopped a vehicle carrying the contraband. He was charged with preparing an assault against the terrorist group Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO), which the Iranian government vehemently denies.

Assadi was eventually released from prison in a deal brokered by Oman in May. 

“In compliance with the directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, to fulfill the requests of the Iranian and Belgian governments to assist in resolving the issue of detained citizens in both countries, the Omani efforts have resulted in an agreement between the two sides for a mutual exchange deal,” the Omani Foreign Ministry said in a statement at the time.

The statement added, “The individuals who were released have been transported from Tehran and Brussels to Muscat today, Friday, May 26, 2023, in preparation for their return to their respective countries.”

In the meeting, Assadi presented a report of his imprisonment in Germany and Belgium to the President Raisi.