An employee of a Belgian NGO, who has been in an Iranian isolation cell for three hundred days, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison in Tehran. The charge against 41-year-old Olivier Vandecasteele is according to the Belgian average unclear.
Vandecasteele’s family received the news from Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Tuesday afternoon. According to Belgian media, no one has seen the Iranian verdict.
According to his family, Fleming has become “a toy in a larger dark international game.”
The verdict in Iran appears to be linked to an ‘Irandeal’ that has been discussed. Vandecasteele could be swapped for Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian serving a 20-year sentence for terrorism in Belgium.
The Tehran government wanted this deal to go ahead. But due to a ruling by the Belgian Constitutional Court, the deal was suspended for at least three months.
