Iran has released Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian humanitarian worker who had been detained in Iran for more than a year, in exchange for convicted terrorist Assadollah Assadi, who had been imprisoned in Belgium.
“Olivier Vandecasteele is on his way to Belgium,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Friday. “If all goes as planned, he will be with us tonight.”
Vandecasteele is expected to land at the Melsbroek military base between 9 and 9:30 p.m. Friday night, the Belgian government said during a press conference.
The authorities confirmed that the Belgian aid worker had been exchanged for Assadi, but without using a controversial bilateral agreement which would allow Iranians convicted in Belgium to serve their sentence in Iran, and vice-versa.
Instead, the government used an article from the Belgian constitution that gives it the power to rule over foreign policy matters, making the exchange possible.
No ransom was paid to free Vandecasteele, the Belgian government said.
Iranian diplomat Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Antwerp court in 2021 for plotting a bomb attack against a rally organized by Iranian dissidents near Paris.
An Iranian political opposition movement in exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, on Friday condemned the prisoner swap, saying it “encourages terrorism and betrays human rights by violating the ruling of the Constitutional Court.”
Vandecasteele had been sentenced to 40 years in prison over four different charges: spying on Iran, cooperating with the U.S. against Iran, currency smuggling and money laundering.
The Belgian government had said the charges were “fabricated” and had pushed for Vandecasteele’s release.
This story has been updated.
