Three Europeans held by Iran and released on Friday as part of a prisoner swap mediated by Belgium, landed at Melsbroek military airport on Saturday night.
Two of the released prisoners are of dual Austrian-Iranian nationality. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Friday they had been “wrongfully detained” since January 2016 and January 2019 respectively,
The Austrian government has confirmed they were 76-year-old Massoud Mossaheb, arrested in January 2019 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2020 for espionage accusations, and businessman Kamran Ghaderi, arrested in January 2016 and also sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage.
The third ex-hostage is Danish citizen Thomas Kjems. He was arrested by Iran in November 2022.
After being evacuated to Oman where they underwent medical examinations, the three Europeans were flown to Melsbroek.
“According to our information, this is the first time that a European Union member state has released nationals of other member states from Iran,” Belgian government sources said on Friday, welcoming the release.
The release of the three Europeans is part of "Operation Blackstone", directly linked to that of Belgian aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, who was exchanged for convicted Iranian terrorist diplomat Assadollah Assadi. The operation is now over, “although we will continue to engage in an international context to free other Europeans.”
There are still 22 European Union nationals held in prisons in Iran. The country has been practising hostage diplomacy for several decades.
