May 26, 2023 at 11:30 am BST
Updated 1 hour ago
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A court in Iran sentenced Olivier Vandecasteele to 40 years in prison after convicting him of espionage charges
Belgium and Iran have held a prisoner swap involving Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele and Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi.
The Belgian Prime Minister announced that Mr Vandecasteele is currently flying home “after 455 days in prison in Tehran in unbearable conditions”.
Iran’s foreign minister tweeted that Mr Assadi was on his way after being “illegally detained” for two years.
The two men were first transported to Oman, which brokered the exchange.
Mr Vandecasteele was sentenced to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes in January after an Iranian court convicted him of espionage and several other charges. He denied any wrongdoing, while Belgium said the allegations were “fabricated” and amounted to retaliation for Mr Assadi’s punishment.
A Belgian court sentenced Mr Assadi to 20 years in prison and found him guilty of planning a bomb attack on the rally of an exiled Iranian opposition group in France. Iran insisted that his arrest, trial and sentencing violated international law.
Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said in a statement that Mr Vandecasteele was flown from Iran to Oman on Thursday evening, where he was taken care of by Belgian military officials and diplomats and underwent several medical checks.
“If everything goes according to plan, he will be with us this year.” [Friday] Evening. Free at last!” he said.
“The choice was always clear to me. Olivier’s life always came first. It’s a responsibility that I take on, that I accept. In Belgium we don’t let anyone down.”
Mr Vandecasteele’s family and friends also celebrated.
“Olivier is free!” They wrote on a Twitter account set up to campaign on his behalf, above which was a nighttime photo of him standing next to an airplane. “We are waiting for you!”
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Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted: “Assadollah Assadi, our country’s innocent diplomat, who was imprisoned for more than two years in violation of international law in Germany and Belgium, is now on his way back to his homeland.”
He also thanked Oman for their role in securing his release.
“The Sultanate of Oman appreciates the high-level positive spirit that reigned between the Iranian and Belgian sides during the Muscat talks and their commitment to solving this humanitarian issue,” it added.
Belgium and Iran signed a controversial prisoner swap deal last year.
However, its implementation was delayed until March by an unsuccessful legal challenge by the opposition group allegedly targeted by Mr Assadi, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
After his release, the NCRI – the political wing of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) or People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI) – accused Belgium of paying “a shameful ransom for terrorism and hostage-taking”.
The move also violates the order of the Belgian Constitutional Court to inform the victims of a convicted person about a planned transfer so that they can initiate a judicial review of the legality.