Iran and Belgium exchanged prisoners on Friday: Iran freed aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who had been convicted of espionage, Belgium the diplomat Assadollah Assadi, convicted of terrorism. The exchange took place in Oman.
Vandecasteele was arrested on February 24, 2022 in Iran, where he worked for the non-profit organization Relief International. He was sentenced the following December to 40 years in prison for espionage, money laundering and currency smuggling, charges Vandecasteele has always maintained were fabricated.
Assadi, on the other hand, worked as a diplomat at the Iranian embassy in Austria and was arrested in 2018 in Belgium together with two other Iranian people on charges of intending to organize a terrorist attack during a meeting in Paris of an Iranian opposition group in exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). In 2021 Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison.