Belgium and Iran carried out a prisoner exchange on Friday, May 26, 2023, in Oman. Officials disclosed that Tehran released a Belgian aid worker in exchange for an Iranian diplomat convicted of attempting to bomb a meeting of exiles in France.
With regard to Iran, Oman has acted as an interlocutor for the West for a long time. The convicts being swapped were not named in the initial notification by Oman’s Foreign Ministry.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry noted that “those released were transferred from Tehran and Brussels to Muscat today, Friday, in preparation for their return to their countries.”
“The sultanate of Oman appreciated the high positive spirit that prevailed in the talks in Muscat between the Iranian and Belgian sides, and their keenness to settle this humanitarian issue.”
Oman’s Foreign Ministry
Olivier Vandecasteele, an aid worker, was released, according to a statement released later on Friday by Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo. Assadollah Assadi, a diplomat, was also released, as later confirmed by Iranian official television.
On Thursday, May 25, 2023 night, according to De Croo, Vandecasteele was moved to Oman. He was welcomed by a group of diplomats and military personnel from Belgium before being examined by medical professionals.
“Olivier spent 455 days in prison in Tehran. In unbearable conditions. Innocent. Olivier Vandecasteele’s return to Belgium is a relief. A relief for his family, friends and colleagues.”
Alexander De Croo
In January, Iran sentenced Vandecasteele to a lengthy prison term and 74 lashes after convicting him of espionage in a closed-door trial. He also was fined $1 million. Vandecasteele was arrested in Iran in February 2022 while packing up his belongings, after working with the Norwegian Refugee Council and Relief International in the Islamic Republic from 2015 to 2021, according to Amnesty International.
Iranian suspicions that he was a spy were vehemently refuted by his family and the Belgian government. Belgium adopted a contentious prisoner exchange pact in March and the country’s constitutional court upheld it, enabling the swap with the Iranian diplomat.
Assadi, on the other hand, was convicted by Belgium in 2021,of masterminding a thwarted bomb attack against an exiled Iranian opposition group in France and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors linked Assadi to a couple, who were stopped by the Belgian police and found with 550 grams (1.21 pounds) of TATP explosives and a detonator in 2018.
They had been trying to target a meeting in Villepinte, France, of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, an exiled Iranian opposition group known as the MEK.
Rudy Giuliani; then-President Donald Trump’s Attorney, Newt Gingrich; a former conservative Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and former Colombian Presidential Candidate, Ingrid Betancourt were among the numerous well-known attendees at the event in Villepinte that day.
Assadi was arrested a day later in Germany and transferred to Belgium. Belgian intelligence identified him as an officer of Iran’s intelligence and security ministry who operated undercover at the Iranian Embassy in Austria. Iran denied Assadi’s involvement.
MEK Condemns Assadi’s Release
In a statement, the MEK condemned Assadi’s release, calling it “a shameful ransom to terrorism and hostage-taking.”
“This will embolden the religious fascism ruling Iran to continue its crimes in Iran through repression and regional and international terrorism,” the group said.
Over the years, Iran has jailed a number of foreigners and dual nationals, charging them of espionage or other state security violations, and sentenced them after secret tribunals in which rights groups claim they were denied due process.
Iran has been charged with using such captives as negotiating chips with the West on numerous occasions by critics.
Iran has recently seen protests and economic hardship due to Western sanctions imposed over its quickly developing nuclear program. Before the prisoner swap, Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq had already committed to visiting Tehran this weekend.
