Iranian authorities have imposed a 28-year sentence on Olivier Vandecasteele. (Representational)
Brussels:
Iranian authorities have imposed a 28-year sentence on jailed Belgian assist employee Olivier Vandecasteele, a spokesman for his household mentioned Wednesday.
The 41-year-old was arrested in Iran on the finish of February and was at one level being held in Tehran’s infamous Evin jail, reportedly suspected of spying.
Belgium and Mr Vandecasteele’s household insist he’s harmless, successfully held as a hostage in Tehran’s efforts to pressure Belgium to launch an Iranian agent convicted of terrorism.
“The household are devastated,” spokesman Olivier Van Steirtegem informed AFP, after the Belgian authorities knowledgeable the household of the information.
“Are you able to think about? If there isn’t any resolution he might keep in jail till 2050. He’ll be nearly 70,” he mentioned, urging Belgium to discover a solution to revive a prisoner swap treaty.
Van Steirtegem mentioned that Mr Vandescasteele’s household had been invited to fulfill Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and several other ministers on Tuesday.
Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, the household ally mentioned, had acquired a name from his Iranian counterpart speaking the courtroom’s verdict — however that they’d no particulars on the fees.
Information of Mr Vandecasteele’s sentence, which has not been publicly confirmed by Iranian authorities, will revive debate in Belgium over a prisoner alternate treaty with Iran.
De Croo’s authorities has described this previously as the one possibility for a switch, and the household spokesman informed AFP that this remained the place at Tuesday’s assembly.
“There is no Plan B,” he famous.
Final week, Belgium’s constitutional courtroom suspended the controversial treaty pending a closing ruling on its legality in three months.
Opponents of the Iranian authorities challenged the deal, which they argue was “tailored” to allow the discharge of Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat sentenced final 12 months to twenty years in jail.
An Antwerp courtroom convicted Assadi of supplying explosives to a few from Belgium who have been to journey to Paris to focus on a gathering of Iran’s exiled opposition.
Iran reacted with fury to the sentencing and the stalled prisoner alternate treaty was proposed as a solution to win Mr Vandecasteele’s launch, regardless of considerations it will be seen to reward hostage-taking.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Janhvi Kapoor Joined By Rumoured Boyfriend Orhan Awatramani On The Purple Carpet
