“Mr. Van Quickenborne had an exchange with his Iranian counterpart who confirmed that Olivier Vandecasteele… He was sentenced to 28 years’ imprisonment in Iranian prisons and this is information that we learned yesterday“, Explain Olivier Van Steirtegem, spokesperson for Olivier Vandecasteele’s relatives. “CIt’s a hard blow for the family, it’s an extremely harsh sentence, and we have no knowledge of the charges that might be brought once morest Olivier.”
For this friend of the Belgian detained in Iran, “it would seem that the sentence is rather a mirror of the sentence of an Iranian national who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium“, namely Assadollah Assadi, diplomat condemned in our country.
Belgium was counting on the very fresh “Transfer of Sentenced Persons Treaty“recently concluded with Tehran, a text that seems tailor-made to, in the other direction, allow the handover to Iran of this diplomat sentenced in 2021 to a 20-year prison term. But the Constitutional Court suspended last week the law giving assent to this treaty, pending a decision on the merits (possible cancellation).
“Unfortunately, what emerged from the three ministers who were present is that there is no other possibility than the transfer treaty, adds Olivier Van Steirtegem. It means that Belgium cannot say today that we can activate this or that track to free Olivier. The only track would be the activation of the transfer treaty which is the copy paste of seventy-four others dealing with transfer and for which the decision of the constitutional court was more than surprising.“
According to the family, the charges brought once morest Olivier Vandecasteele by the Iranian courts are “still unknownThe government has, she said, confirmed that the currently inoperative Transfer Treaty is the only option to secure her release.
“Olivier Vandecasteele’s situation seems insignificant despite the risks to his life and his arbitrary detention“, still deplore the relatives of the detainee, who recall that he is still on hunger strike.
