The Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo lifted the lid on the process that led three other European prisoners to be freed from Iran after the Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele’s release.
Two Austrian nationals and a Danish man were released on Friday as part of the prisoner swap orchestrated by the Belgian Government to return Vandecasteele home.
In exchange, Assadollah Assadi, the convicted Iranian terrorist who was serving a prison sentence in Belgium, was allowed to return to his home country.
Speaking to RTBF on Monday, the Belgian PM explained that they had, unsurprisingly, prioritised releasing Vandecasteele first. “Our desire has always been to release as many innocent prisoners as possible,” De Croo added.
The Belgian leader revealed that his government had received requests from other countries to free other foreign nationals being held in Iranian prisons.
The Prime Minister concluded that, by the time an agreement was reached with Iran, it was decided “several people would be released,” with three prisoners returned home. They were two Austrian prisoners with Iranian dual nationality and a Danish journalist who had been detained during a protest for improved women’s rights.
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De Croo explained that the government had not told Vandecasteele of their plan to release other prisoners “because the risk was too great for three people who we knew were going to be freed.”
The Prime Minister also defended the use of an article in the Belgian constitution to bypass the need for parliamentary approval of the prisoner swap. “It was a very, very, very difficult dilemma,” De Croo explained, “but at some point, I made up my mind: you cannot abandon an innocent Belgian.”
He also criticised opposition members who said “Olivier must be freed but without explaining how.” De Croo concluded by declaring the four releases as "a success for Belgian diplomacy."
