APPREHENDED
- Full name: Mehrdad Arefani
- Pseudonym: N/a
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Belgium, fmr France, fmr Iran
- Affiliation: Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran [MOIS]
Mehrdad Arefani (°1963) is an asset of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence who had infiltrated exiled Iranian opposition circles by posing as a left-wing activist and dissident poet after settling in Belgium in 2003.1 He was able to document the activities of the Iranian regime’s opponents in Belgium by acting as a cameraman and technician for organizations linked to the National Council of the Iranian Resistance [NCRI].2 In the mid-2010s, Arefani became associated with senior secret service operative Assadollah Assadi.3 He received large sums of money for his work and does not appear to have been ideologically motivated.4
In 2018, Arefani became involved with a plot hatched by the Iranian secret services to bomb the annual gathering of the NCRI in Paris.5 He was arrested by French police on Jun. 30 after two co-plotters were intercepted by Belgian security forces as they were on their way to attack the meeting with a bomb.6 France extradited him to Belgium a few days later.7 Arefani was sentenced to seventeen years in prison by an Antwerp court on Feb. 04, 2021.8 He was also stripped of his Belgian nationality.9
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