An Iranian court has sentenced Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who recently began a hunger strike to protest his detention, to 28 years in prison, a family source confirmed on Wednesday, who claims to be unaware of the accusations.
“It is no longer a matter of debate, but a matter of life and death. It is a very harsh verdict,” the family said, questioning how it could be possible, without knowing the charges, to keep an innocent man in an Iranian jail. imprisonment up to 69 years. Iranian authorities charged him with espionage.
Vandecasteele worked for 17 years as an aid worker in Afghanistan, India, Mali and Iran for various international aid organizations such as Doctors of the World.
Vandecasteele headed the Iranian delegation of Relief International (RI) between 2020 and 2021, after having headed the Tehran branch of the Norwegian Relief Council (NRC) between 2015 and 2020.
In 2021 he returned to Iran to help in humanitarian assistance operations associated with the covid-19 pandemic, until he was arrested in February.
Family spokesman Olivier van Steintegem said Vandecasteele’s relatives met Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo and Justice Minister Vincent van Quickenborne on Tuesday to discuss the aid worker’s arrest.
In late November, the family said Vandecasteel, now 41, was being held “in total isolation” and in a “windowless cell” after reporting he had suffered “significant weight loss” and “had problems worrisome dental and stomach problems”. “. since his arrest”, in addition to having lost several fingernails.
The Belgian government revealed in July that Vandecasteele was arrested in February and charged with espionage, with no further details known.
“This person is suspected of espionage, but there is not the slightest indication that this is based on facts,” the Belgian justice minister said at the time.
Given the situation, Brussels has been working to secure Vandecasteele’s release, something that cannot be achieved without a legal extradition treaty between Belgium and Iran.
An eventual prisoner exchange would mean the release of Iranian diplomat Asadollah Asadi, sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Antwerp court in 2021 for attempted murder and participation in terrorist activities.
According to the family, Vandecasteele was arrested on February 24 in Tehran, without knowing the reason.
Last Thursday, the Belgian Constitutional Court “suspended” a Belgian-Iranian agreement for the transfer of convicts between the two countries, which the Belgian government had asked parliament to approve in July to allow the return of Vandecasteele.
The relatives expressed “extremely disappointed” with the decision made meanwhile by the Constitutional Court.
The transfer agreement between Brussels and Tehran was signed in March 2022, shortly after Vandecasteele’s arrest and has been the subject of numerous appeals in Belgium by Iranian opponents in exile in the country.
For them, the agreement paves the way for the surrender of Tehran and a possible pardon for the Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, sentenced in Belgium for preparing a “terrorist” attack against the Iranian opposition.
Source: TSF
