Around 20 people protested today in Brussels against the prisoner swap with Iran which secured the freedom of the Belgian humanitarian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele.
At the crossroads between Rue de la Loi and Avenue des Arts, protestors from the Iranian opposition and diaspora gathered to denounce the prisoner swap in which the Belgian Federal Government sent home convicted terrorist and former Iranian diplomat Assadolah Assadi back to Iran.
In February 2021, Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in a murder and state-sanctioned terrorist plot against political opposition living in France. Several of those protesting today in Brussels were present at the scene of the planned attack. During the trial that convicted Assadi, it was revealed that the bomb intended to be used in the attack was transported in his diplomatic suitcase.
On Friday, the convicted diplomat arrived back in Tehran, where he was welcomed by Iranian officials. Assadi was swapped in Oman in exchange for Vandecasteele, who has been imprisoned in Iran since February 2022. The Belgian was held in poor conditions and lost 30 kilograms while in detention.
Credit: Belga/ Nicolas Baras
Bending to blackmail?
The prisoner exchange has been fiercely criticised by some groups. On the eve of the prisoner swap, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an organisation that represents exiled Iranian dissidents, called the exchange “shameful” and warned that it would “encourage the religious fascism in power in Iran to continue its crimes.”
The protest in Brussels today was coordinated by the Iranian Association for Human Rights, who denounced that Belgium had conceded to Iranian blackmail.
“We are happy to have Olivier Vandecasteele back home. But we condemn the release of Assadolah Assadi, a terrorist diplomat, in exchange. This shameful affair has only one beneficiary: the Iranian terrorist regime and its policy of taking hostages,” said Mehdi Nobari, secretary general of the Iranian Association for Human Rights.
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The Association has penned a letter to Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, demanding that Iran’s paramilitary organisation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, be included on a European list of sanctioned terrorist organisations. Flemish nationalist party N-VA opposed this proposal when it was recently tabled in the Federal Parliament.
Others present at the scene of the Assadi’s planned terrorist attack have also denounced the decision, including ex-Colombian Senator Íngrid Betancourt, who was held by FARC rebels for many years, and British MP Bob Blackman, who said that Belgium had undermined efforts to hold Tehran to account.
