Iran and Belgium brokered an Oman-brokered prisoner exchange deal on Friday when Asadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat convicted in Belgium and sentenced to prison, was returned to the Islamic Republic in exchange for Olivier Vandekastele, a Belgian citizen who worked in Tehran and was imprisoned and accused of espionage more than a year ago.
Vandekastele is scheduled to land at a military base in Melesbrook in the evening. "Olivier Vandekastele is on his way to Belgium," Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. "If all goes according to plan, he'll be with us tonight."
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo,
Sentenced to 20 years in prison
In February 2022, Assadi was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for planning an attack on a conference of the Iranian opposition in exile near Paris in 2018.
The European Union court in Brussels ruled that Assadi headed a conspiracy by Iranian intelligence to plant a bomb at a meeting of Iran's National Resistance Council. The prosecution claimed during the trial that Assadi planned the attack on the orders of the police in Tehran.
The court in Antwerp during Assadi's trial in 2020, photo: Reuters
Assadi was arrested in Germany in 2018 and during his trial threatened investigators that his conviction would lead to a series of terrorist attacks across Europe. His trial took place under heavy security and in complete secrecy.
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