Iranian diplomat does not attend first day of ‘terror plot’ trial in Belgium

People wait in a queue as police patrol outside of the courthouse in Antwerp, Belgium (Virginia Mayo/AP)

An Iranian diplomat suspected of masterminding a thwarted bomb attack against an exiled Iranian opposition group in France at an event attended by five UK MPs did not show up at the courthouse on the opening day of his trial on terror charges in Belgium.

More than two years after the cross-border police operation that thwarted the attack, Assadollah Assadi and three other suspects face between five years and 20 years in prison on charges of “attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group”.