Belgium Requests Iran to Hand Over Relief Worker

Belgium submitted a request to Iran today, Tuesday, for the extradition of Belgian relief worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who is imprisoned. Belgium had previously signed a treaty with Iran for prisoner exchange. Vandecasteele was arrested during a visit to Iran in February 2022 and was sentenced in January to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on charges including espionage. Iran has stated that it is open to conducting a prisoner swap, indicating that it may seek to recover diplomat Assadollah Assadi, the first Iranian official to be tried in Europe for alleged terrorism since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The prisoner extradition treaty has been delayed due to legal challenges raised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran in exile, which was the target of a foiled bomb plot near Paris. A spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a question about whether the Belgian extradition request would be viewed as leading to a prisoner swap.