For his first public expression since his return, Olivier Vandecasteele said he was moved by the extent of the mobilization in his favor. The humanitarian, released last week by Iran in an exchange of prisoners, thanked this Thursday all his supporters in Belgium and elsewhere during his 455 days of detention, saying he was "deeply moved" by this mobilization.
"Having had no direct access to outside information during my entire detention in complete solitary confinement (13 consecutive months), I was a thousand miles away from imagining the extent of the citizen mobilization," wrote the 42-year-old French-speaking Belgian.
Massive support
"Petitions, tribunes, demonstrations, banners, drawings, maps, letters... The extent of your support moves me deeply," he added, also expressing his joy at having found his "tender democratic Belgium". This is his first public expression since his repatriation on May 26, via the Sultanate of Oman, which acted as a facilitator in the prisoner exchange.
Hello everyone, Olivier has message for all of you 5 days home already Thank you 👇 everyone for your kind support and for being so mindful to us 🙏 #FreeOlivierVandecasteele #OlivierVandecasteele #OlivierIsHome #OlivierIsFree #NotATarget #ThankYou #Freedom pic.twitter.com/eWv2c0m98r 🇧🇪
— Free Olivier Vandecasteele (@FreeOlivierVDC) June 1, 2023
To see Mr. Vandecasteele return, Belgium released and handed over to Iran its diplomat Assadollah Assadi. The latter, then stationed in Vienna, was arrested in the summer of 2018 in Germany, then sentenced to 20 years in prison for terrorism in 2021 in Belgium, for a planned attack that was to target a gathering of Iranian opponents in France.
"The gap is huge"
In his letter of thanks, the Belgian humanitarian says he is resuming "little by little" contact with life in freedom with his loved ones. "The gap is huge. I am followed by a professional medical team that I thank very much," he says. Olivier Vandecasteele appeared emaciated during the reunion with his family on the tarmac of the Melsbroek military base, near Brussels.
Olivier #Vandecasteele hugs his family as he gets out of the plane.
The Belgian humanitarian, detained in Iran for 456 days, was released after a prisoner exchange between Brussels and Tehran facilitated by Oman
He landed tonight on Belgian soil around 21:30 p.m. pic.twitter.com/UrSh5nQvgl
— LN24 (@LesNews24) May 26, 2023
His relatives and the Belgian authorities, including Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, have compared his "arbitrary detention" by the Iranian authorities to "torture", in solitary confinement and without access to medical care. Arrested on 24 February 2022 in Tehran, Mr. Vandecasteele had been sentenced, including for "espionage", to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes.
For his supporters he was the victim of "blackmail" by Iran to recover Assadollah Assadi. Tehran considered the conviction of the latter in Belgium illegal, considering that it violated his diplomatic immunity.
