Iran says 20-year jail sentence for Iranian diplomat is "illegal"

Iran "strongly" condemned a Belgian court's decision to sentence an Iranian diplomat convicted of planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled opposition group in France, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.

"As we have stated many times before, Assadolah Assadi's detention, the judicial process and the recent sentencing are illegal and a clear violation of international law, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention," Saeed Khatibzadeh said according to state TV.

The court sentenced Assadi to 20 years in prison on Thursday in the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in Europe since Iran's 1979 revolution.