Belgian humanitarian Olivier Vandecasteele freed in ‘mutual exchange’ of detainees with Iran

Iran and Belgium have reached an agreement of“mutual exchange” detainees, currently in transit in the Sultanate of Oman, mediator between Tehran and Western countries, announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman, Friday, May 26. The two ex-convicts “were transported from Tehran and Brussels to Muscat today [vendredi] with a view to their return to their respective countries”said the ministry of this Gulf Arab state.

After 455 days in detention in Iran, humanitarian Olivier Vandecasteele has been released, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo has confirmed. “Last night, Olivier was taken to Oman where he was taken care of by a team of Belgian soldiers and diplomats. He passed a certain number of medical examinations there this morning in order to assess his state of health and allow his return in the best possible conditions.said Mr. De Croo. “If all goes as planned, he will be with us tonight. Finally free “he added.

The head of Iranian diplomacy announced, for his part, that Brussels had released the Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi and that he was on his way back to Iran. “Assadollah Assadi, our country’s innocent diplomat, who was illegally detained in Germany and Belgium for more than two years in violation of international law, is now on his way back to his country”Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter, thanking Oman for its role in the release.

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“A shameful ransom”, according to the Iranian opposition

In March, the Belgian Constitutional Court had validated the treaty for the transfer of sentenced persons concluded by Brussels with Tehran, the only way for the government to free Mr. Vandecasteele. According to the Iranian opposition in exile, Belgium paid “a shameful ransom” for a ” hostage taking “.

Arrested in February 2022 in Tehran, Mr. Vandecasteele, 42, had been convicted of “espionage”. According to Brussels, he was at the heart of” blackmail “and treated “inhumanly”. Olivier Vandecasteele’s family had also denounced the ill-treatment inflicted on him. His conditions of detention fall under ” the torture “had accused at the end of April Alexander De Croo before the Chamber of Deputies. “He sleeps and eats on the floor, does not have sufficient access to medical care (…)the light never goes out in his cell”he detailed.

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The release of Olivier Vandecasteele comes two weeks after those of two French nationals, Benjamin Brière, 37, incarcerated for three years in Mashhad prison, in northeastern Iran, and the Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan, 64 years old, who has spent seven months in detention. Thirty-five nationals of a dozen member states of the European Union, including four French, are still detained in Iran, according to the head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna.

The World with AFP

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