Belgium's Foreign Office has confirmed that official charges against Olivier Vandecasteele are espionage and working against the national security in Iran. Vandecasteele was working for a humanitarian aid mission in Iran when he was arrested. He has spent about 300 days in an Iranian prison now, but until now it was not entirely clear what the official reason actually was.
Humanitarian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele convicted for "spying and working against national security" in Iran
Michaël Torfs
Published:
Vandecasteele was given a prison sentence of 28 years without a fair trial. His living conditions in the Iranian prison cell are very bad. There is no heating and he only wears a T-shirt, while Iran is confronted with icy conditions including snow.
Vandecasteele's family is devastated. They say it was a mock trial, and that Vandecasteele was not given the opportunity to defend himself properly. Until now it wasn't even clear which charges exactly he had been facing.
It was the news chain Al Arabiya that spread the news about one Belgian and two French citizens who were confronted with above-mentioned charges, citing the semi-official Student News Network that quoted a judiciary spokesperson. The Belgian Foreign Office later confirmed that it involved Vandecasteele: "We only have one Belgian in a prison cell in Iran and that is Olivier. We are sure the charges involve him."
Hopes that he could be swapped with an Iranian convicted of terrorism charges, were dashed after a ruling by the Constitutional Court.