BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Belgium has charged an Iranian diplomat and three other individuals with planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled Iranian opposition group in France in June, Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The diplomat, identified only by his given name as Assadollah A., worked at the Iranian embassy in Vienna. He was arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning an attack against the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an umbrella bloc of opposition groups in exile.
On Tuesday, Germany transferred the diplomat to Belgium, where he was charged with preparing a terrorist attack, the state prosecutor said.
The other three alleged participants have also been charged in Belgium.
Two of them were arrested by Belgian police in June with 500 grams (one lb) of TATP, an explosive that can be home-made from easily available chemicals, as well as a detonation device.
The fourth suspect was arrested in France and later transferred to Belgium.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
