The European Parliament strongly condemned the sentencing of Olivier Vandecasteele, the Belgian imprisoned in Iran since February 2022 and voted on a motion for a resolution on the EU response to the protests and executions on Thursday.
In its motion for resolution, the Parliament explains Vandecasteele’s sentence of 40 years in prison and 74 lashes is based on “fabricated espionage charges” and the “cynical use of hostage diplomacy to force the release of convicted terrorist Asadollah Asadi.”
Experts, politicians and the press have pointed out Vandecasteele is used by Iran as a bargaining chip for Assadi, an Iranian diplomat convicted in Belgium for a planned bomb attack on the Iranian opposition in France.
Last year, Belgium negotiated a prisoner swap with Iran, which would have allowed for the exchange of Assadi for Vandecasteele. However, the Belgian Constitutional Court decided to suspend the agreement last month as Assadi could have escaped his sentence and been released in Iran. In February, the court will determine whether or not the treaty should be abandoned.
The motion also condemns the “continued imprisonment of, and death sentence issued against” of Swedish-Iranian scientist Ahmadreza Djalali and asks for the “immediate release of all EU nationals arrested” in the country.
In response to a question from an MEP on Vandecasteele’s case, Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said: “We are in contact with the Belgian authorities who have consular responsibility in this situation, and we fully support the consular efforts made by each Member State in such a situation.”
The resolution more broadly calls for a tougher EU crackdown on Iran by extending sanctions and putting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the European list of terrorist organisations.
In Belgium, the Chamber of Representatives unanimously approved a resolution on Thursday demanding Vandecasteele’s “immediate release” and an improvement in his detention conditions, Le Soir reported yesterday. It asks the government “to use all diplomatic means” to ask Iranian authorities for the immediate release of the aid worker and to bring the matter up for discussion at the Council of the EU, among other things.
It also recommends seeking diplomatic intervention from a third country to obtain this release or at least improve detention conditions. According to the Belgian news media citing sources, such a role could be held by Qatar; its influence has already been useful during the emergency repatriation of Western citizens after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan.
An amendment that proposed Foreign Affairs Minister Hadja Lahbib and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo go to Iran and obtain Vandecasteele’s release was rejected.
Source: euractiv.com
