Belgium court upholds contentious prisoner swap deal with Iran

Belgium’s top court has overturned the suspension of a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran that could see individuals convicted of terrorism returned to Tehran, according to Politico. 

This would allow Belgians imprisoned in Iran to return to Brussels and Iranians jailed in Belgium to be sent back to Tehran. 

The treaty was approved by the Brussels parliament in July but was suspended by Belgium’s Constitutional Court in December over fears that Iran would not uphold its end of the bargain. 

This could pave the war for an exchange between Belgian humanitarian worker Olivier Vandercasteele who has been imprisoned by Tehran and Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi. 

Vandercasteele, widely believed to be a victim of Tehran’s ‘hostage diplomacy’, was convicted on four different charges, including spying and cooperating with the United States, and initially sentenced to 28 years in prison.

His term was later extended to 40 years and 74 lashes, a few weeks after the prisoner exchange treaty was suspended in Belgium. 

Brussels has long called for his release, and Belgian authorities have labelled the charges again him as "fabricated". Prime Minister Alexander De Croo stressed that the aid worker was "innocent" and "need[ed] to be immediately released" in a phone call with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi earlier this week. 

Assadi, an Iranian diplomat, was sentenced to 20 years in jail by an Antwerp court in 2021 for plotting to bomb a rally organised by Iranian dissidents in Paris.