Olivier Vandecasteele

Olivier Vandecasteele is a Belgian humanitarian worker who was arbitrarily arrested in Iran on 24 February 2022, sentenced to 28 years in December 2022, then sentenced to 40 years in prison in January 2023, following a sham trial.[1] Olivier was kept hostage in Iran for 455 days and was released on 26 May 2023. His case is considered to be "a flagrant violation of international law."[2]

Banner of #freeoliviervandecasteele in Brussels (26 May 2023)

Career

Since at least 2006, Olivier Vandecasteele has worked for international humanitarian organisations, including Médecins du Monde, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Relief International. He has worked in India, Afghanistan, and Mali. In 2015, he became the country director of NRC's Iran operations, and assumed the same role in Iran for Relief International in 2020 and 2021. In that position, he distributed humanitarian aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Detention in Iran

Vandecasteele was wrongfully detained in Iran on 24 February 2022.[3][4] On 5 July 2022 Belgium's justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne claimed that Vandecasteele was being held on fabricated "espionage" charges.[4]

In December 2022, the Belgian government stated that Iran had sentenced him to 28 years in prison,[5] and then in January 2023, the BBC reported that he had been sentenced during a sham trial[6] to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes for spying, money laundering, and currency smuggling.[7] Vandecasteele denied the charges against him.[7]

On 26 May 2023 it was announced that Olivier Vandecasteele had been freed following a prisoner swap with Asadollah Asadi, an Iranian ex-diplomat convicted of plotting a bomb attack against a rally of the Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran in Paris; Asadi had been arrested in 2018.[8]

Olivier was kept in full isolation for 14 months, out of his 15 months of wrongful isolation, in a tiny basement cell without windows and with the light constantly on 24 hours a day. Amnesty International and experts of the United Nations said that Olivier had been subjected to enforced disappearance, torture, and other ill-treatment.[9]

Mobilisation

Vandecasteele's family and friends initiated a campaign to support the release of their brother, son and friend (together with Amnesty International) by mobilising in Belgium and around the globe. The mobilisation included signing of petitions, gatherings, media campaigns, social media, participation at sporting and cultural events, lectures in schools, school kits for teachers, letter-writing marathons, voting on local motions, and bannering of the mayor in support of Olivier Vandecasteele's release.

See also

References
  1. Verkerk, Joris; van Straaten, Floris. "Belgische hulpverlener Vandecasteele na bijna anderhalf jaar in Iraanse gevangenis op vrije voeten" (in Dutch). NRC. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  2. "Iran: UN experts say arbitrary detention of Belgian aid worker a flagrant violation of international law". OHCHR. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  3. "Exclusive: Iran Holding Belgian Man As Brussels Mulls Prisoner Exchange". Iran International. 4 July 2022.
  4. "Belgian Held In Iran For 'Espionage'". AFP. 5 July 2022.
  5. "Olivier Vandecasteele: Iran jails Belgian aid worker for 28 years - family". BBC. 14 December 2022.
  6. Times, The Brussels. "Belgian aid worker sentenced to 40 years, not 28, in prison, Iran confirms". www.brusselstimes.com. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  7. "Olivier Vandecasteele: Belgian aid worker sentenced to 40 years in Iran". BBC News. 2023-01-10. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  8. "Olivier Vandecasteele est libre : un échange avec le diplomate iranien Assadi a été effectué à Oman". La Libre Belgique (in French).
  9. "Iran: Tortured Belgian aid worker forcibly disappeared: Olivier Vandecasteele". Amnesty International. 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-06-26.

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