A Dane and two Iranian-Austrians, released by Iran after Belgian mediation and tough negotiations, arrived in their countries of origin on Saturday, a week after the release of a Belgian humanitarian.
This triple release of European nationals via the Sultanate of Oman was obtained – like that of Olivier Vandecasteele on May 26 – after Belgium agreed to deliver an Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism to Tehran.
The small medical plane which transported the three ex-prisoners from Muscat had landed shortly before 02:45 (00:45 GMT) at the military airport of Melsbroek near Brussels, noted an AFP journalist.
The three men, one of whom spent seven years in detention in Iran, were welcomed by Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib, accompanied by Danish and Austrian diplomats.
In a tweet, Ms. Lahbib said she had exchanged with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to tell him of Belgium’s “satisfaction” after “the implementation of the agreement reached”.
It was Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo who announced in the afternoon the evacuation “via Oman to Belgium” of three Europeans “unjustly detained” in Iran. An operation prepared in the greatest discretion for several days.
The Sultanate of Oman, unanimously thanked by Brussels, Copenhagen and Vienna, had already acted as a facilitator and transit country on May 26 during the exchange between the humanitarian Vandecasteele and Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat sentenced in Belgium for terrorism returned to his country.
The head of Danish diplomacy Lars Lokke Rasmussen welcomed this operation, praising in particular “the immense efforts” of Belgium.
Danish national Thomas Kjems arrived in Copenhagen around 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) and told reporters he was treated well in Iran. He was arrested in November 2022 “on the sidelines of rallies for women’s rights”.
The two Iranian-Austrians, Kamran Ghaderi, a businessman arrested in January 2016, and Massud Mossaheb, who spent almost four years in detention before being released in November 2022 on medical grounds without being able to leave Iran, arrived at Vienna airport around 11:30 a.m. (09:30 GMT).
They were welcomed by their families and Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Schallenberg’s spokeswoman, Claudia Tuertscher, told AFP.
Suffering, Massud Mossaheb, septuagenarian, had previously left the plane in Melsbroek, Belgium, leaning on crutches.
They spent respectively “2,709 and 1,586 days in detention in Iran”, underlined Mr. Schallenberg, welcoming “a diplomatic marathon which finally bore fruit”.
On May 26, Tehran released Belgian humanitarian Olivier Vandecasteele after 455 days of detention, following a standoff with Brussels which put the Belgian executive to the test.
The return of Mr. Vandecasteele was obtained in exchange for the release of the diplomat Assadi imprisoned in Belgium for almost five years in a terrorism file.
Assadollah Assadi, then stationed in Vienna, had been arrested on July 1, 2018 in Germany, suspected of having orchestrated a planned attack which was to target the day before a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI, coalition of opponents) in France.
He was then sentenced to 20 years in prison for “attempted terrorist assassinations” in 2021 in Antwerp, Belgium.
The NCRI sees Assadi as the embodiment of “state terrorism” practiced by Tehran, and has criticized his release for violating the rule of law.
Assadollah Assadi, whom Belgian justice considered to be an Iranian intelligence agent, was greeted when he got off the plane in Tehran with gifts and a necklace of flowers by two senior government officials.
The Belgian Prime Minister confirmed on Saturday in an interview with the daily Le Soir that these new releases were the second phase of the operation negotiated with Iran to deliver Mr. Assadi.
“It was part of the agreement: we had concluded that it was going to be executed in two stages,” said Mr De Croo.
This operation was baptized “Blackstone” from the name of an English jurist of the 18th century author of the formula “Better ten culprits are free than one innocent who suffers”.
Westerners imprisoned in Iran are generally portrayed by their supporters as innocent people used by Tehran as leverage and bargaining chip.
After the release last month of French Benjamin Brière and Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan, there are still four French detainees in Iran.
And in total between twenty and thirty nationals of EU member countries, depending on the sources, are in the same situation. There are 22 left after the four releases from Operation Blackstone, according to Belgian authorities.
03/06/2023 17:46:55 – Bruxelles (AFP) – © 2023 AFP