Belgium has asked Iran for the return of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, imprisoned since February 2022, under a now applicable convict transfer treaty.
In a tweet, Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said she had made this request on Monday during a telephone exchange with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
“I took the lead in announcing that Belgium would submit a transfer request for Olivier Vandecasteele today (Tuesday),” wrote the French-speaking liberal minister. “I also denounced his conditions of detention and demanded a visit from our ambassador on the spot”.
The hostage’s family again reported on Tuesday morning “serious health problems” putting his life in danger.
“He can barely stand up because of unbearable muscle and nerve pain” and “the lack of concrete action and quick results could put Olivier in an irreversible situation,” the family warned in a statement.
She recalled that Mr Vandecasteele was imprisoned in solitary confinement without any access to medical treatment.
The 42-year-old aid worker was arrested on February 24, 2022 in Tehran and later sentenced to 40 years in prison for “espionage”, Iranian authorities said in January.
He was also sentenced to 74 lashes, after a trial described as “unfair” by both his family and the Belgian authorities.
The Belgian executive had Parliament vote in the summer of 2022 on a treaty signed with Iran allowing the mutual transfer of convicted prisoners, a text presented as the only way to free Mr. Vandecasteele.
But the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI, coalition of opponents) seized the Belgian courts to prevent its application, giving rise to months of controversy.
These opponents in exile consider that this treaty opens the way to the handing over to Tehran, and a probable release, of an Iranian diplomat sentenced in Belgium in 2021 to twenty years in prison for a planned attack which was to target one of his gatherings, in France in 2018.
Seized of an action for annulment, the Belgian Constitutional Court first “suspended” the treaty in December, before finally giving the green light at the beginning of March to its entry into application. Tehran said it was almost immediately ready for an exchange of prisoners with Belgium.
Asked whether Belgium had received a transfer request from Mr. Assadi, the Foreign Ministry made no comment.
This April 18 marked the official entry into force of the treaty, one month after the exchange of laws ratified by each of the two countries.
18/04/2023 12:58:05 – Bruxelles (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
