On Thursday, the European Parliament in Strasbourg called on the Iranian regime to release Belgian former aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele without any conditions and condemned the "cynical use of hostage diplomacy."
The Parliament "strongly condemns" the conviction of Vandecasteele, the continued detention of Swedish-Iranian scientist and guest lecturer at Brussels VUB university Ahmadreza Djalali and "the cynical use of hostage diplomacy to force the release of convicted terrorist Asadollah Assadi."
Assadi is officially an Iranian diplomat and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium in 2021 for a planned terror attack in Paris.
MEPs demand the "immediate and unconditional release and safe repatriation" of Djalali and Vandecasteele, as well as seven French citizens imprisoned in Iran.
Cracking down harder on Iranian regime
Since February 2022, Vandecasteele has been held in appalling conditions and was sentenced to 40 years in prison, 74 lashes and a $1 million fine for espionage, among other charges. Djalali has been in prison since 2016 and was sentenced to death in 2017, also on charges of espionage.
In the resolution, MEPs further call on EU Member States to crack down harder on the Iranian regime for its repression of protest movements in the country, and for its military support to Russia. Among other things, they call for Iran's Revolutionary Guards to be placed on the European list of terrorist organisations and for spiritual leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi to be put on the sanctions list.
"The European Parliament has just adopted a resolution on Iran condemning the regime's repression, executions, arbitrary detentions and lack of fair trials," said Saskia Bricmont, an MEP for Greens/EFA on Twitter.
"Furthermore, we call on the EU to act against the Iranian regime, and to act in support of the Member States to free all hostages and prisoners arbitrarily detained in Iran, particularly Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian humanitarian worker, who has been illegally detained in Iran for nearly a year."
Bricmont added that the MEPs are calling on the European authorities to support the Belgian authorities in their efforts to obtain the release of Olivier Vandecasteele.
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At the same time, a collective of 35 European NGOs is calling on the EU to step up efforts to get Vandecasteele out of prison. They called for a more active role in negotiations with Iran, among other views expressed in an open letter published in the French newspaper Libération.
"One of the first steps the EU can contribute to is getting in touch with an independent medical team," the open letter said. "A thorough medical check-up is crucial for Vandecasteele's safety." The EU foreign ministers will meet to discuss the situation in Iran on Monday.
