Iran and Belgium have struck an agreement on the “mutual exchange” of detainees currently in transit in the Sultanate of Oman, serving as intermediaries between Tehran and western countries, Oman’s foreign ministry said on Friday, May 26 . The two former detainees “were transported today from Tehran and Brussels to Muscat [vendredi] with a view to their return to their respective countries,” specified the Ministry of this Arab Gulf State.
After 455 days in detention in Iran, humanitarian worker 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 underwent several medical examinations there this morning to assess his health and allow his return in the best possible conditions,” said De Croo. “If everything goes as planned, he will be with us tonight. Free at last,” he added.
For his part, the head of Iranian diplomacy announced that Brussels had released Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi and that he was on his way back to Iran. “Assadollah Assadi, an innocent diplomat of our country 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,” said the Foreign Minister. , Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted thanks to Oman for his role in this publication.
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“A shameful ransom,” according to the Iranian opposition
In March, the Belgian Constitutional Court upheld the Brussels-Tehran transfer agreement for the transfer of sentenced persons, which was the government’s only way of releasing Mr Vandecasteele. According to the Iranian opposition in exile, Belgium paid “a shameful ransom” for a “hostage situation”.
Mr Vandecasteele, 42, was arrested in Tehran in February 2022 and convicted of “espionage”. According to Brussels, he was the subject of “blackmail” and treated “in an inhuman manner”. Olivier Vandecasteele’s family had also denounced the abuse inflicted on him. Alexander De Croo had accused the Chamber of Deputies at the end of April of his prison conditions being “torture”. “He sleeps and eats on the floor, has insufficient access to medical care (…), the light never goes out in his cell,” he explained in detail.
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Olivier Vandecasteele’s release comes two weeks after the release of two French nationals: Benjamin Brière, 37, who was imprisoned for three years in Mashhad prison in north-eastern Iran, and Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan, 64, who was imprisoned for seven months has spent arrest. According to the head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, 35 nationals from a dozen European Union member states, including four French, are still being held in Iran.