Olivier Vandecasteele

Olivier Vandecasteele is a Belgian aid worker. He has worked in Iran since 2015 for seven years as an aid worker for the Norwegian Refugee Council and International Development and Relief Foundation. Mr. Vandecasteele was arrested in the winter of 2021 in Iran for espionage.

• <coverage-outsourcing id='41288'> <reference source='https://bit.ly/3dvUswF'> Olivier Vandecasteele was arrested by the security forces in the winter of 2021. Radio Farda released a video of Mr. Vandecasteele’s sister in which she expresses concern about her brother’s conditions and asks the Belgian government’s help for his release. Olivier Vandecasteele’s sister says in the video: “Although Olivier is innocent, he has been kept in complete isolation for five months. For two months he didn’t even have a mattress in his cell and the light in his cell was on 24 hours a day.” Mr. Vandecasteele goes on to say that after the second visit of the Belgian embassy representatives in Tehran with Mr. Vandecasteele, they were informed that he has lost a lot of weight and suffers from a foot infection. Radio Farda Reported that Olivier Vandecasteele has been accused of espionage. According to Iran International, the International Development and Relief Foundation announced that it ended its collaboration with Olivier Vandecasteele in 2021. Iran International reported that Olivier Vandecasteele went back to Europe after his mission as the chief of operation for the foundation ended, and after a while returned to Iran to visit a friend. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41294'> <reference source='https://www.iranintl.com/202207050291'> Iran International wrote: > Olivier Vandecasteele's family say he is in solitary and they have only been able to call him once. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41289'> <reference source='https://bit.ly/3jH5an1'> The Belgian Ministry of Justice confirmed the arrest of a Belgian citizen without revealing the name. According to the Independent, people close to Olivier Vandecasteele say the IRGC has arrested him and he is being held in Evin Prison. The report says he is being held under bad conditions and his health is at risk. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41293'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/31940312.html'> Radio Farda released a video of Mr. Vandecasteele's sister in which she expresses concern about her brother's situation and asks for help from the Belgian government in his release. She says: > Although Olivier is innocent, they have been holding him in complete isolation for almost five months. For two months he didn't even have a mattress in his cell and his cell light was on for 24 hours. She goes on to say that after the second visit of the Belgian embassy representative with Olivier, they found out that he has lost a lot of weight and is suffering from a foot infection. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41916'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/32016191.html'> His family released a statement expressing concern about his situation and announced that he has been moved to an unknown location. According to Radio Farda, Olivier Vandecasteele's family expressed concern about his lack of access to medical treatment and said he is being held in a solitary cell locked in a basement without a window or air conditioning and has been denied access to an attorney. The family of the Belgian citizen also mentioned that recently they had the chance to have a brief phone conversation with Mr. Vandecasteele and said he is completely isolated and has lost a lot of weight and there are signs of skin infection and hair loss. The family once again asked the Islamic Republic to show mercy to Olivier Vandecasteele and demanded his release. THey asked that until his release he be held in a cell with a window and be able to call family and receive consulate services. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='44783'> <reference source='https://per.euronews.com/2022/12/14/olivier-vandecasteele-belgium-iran-prison-28-years'> Reuters reported that the Belgian Minister of Justice announced that Olivier Vandecasteele has been sentenced to prison on made-up charges. He said the sentence issued against this Belgian citizen is a retaliation of the Islamic Republic's Judiciary to the trial of Asadollah Asadi, an Iranian diplomat involved in a bombing plot. In 2018 Asadollah Asadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Belgian court for attempting to bomb an MKO event. The Vandecasteele family's spokesperson said there is no exchange plan in the works for this prison sentence and "if no solution is found, Olivier Vandecasteele will stay in prison until 2050 when he will be almost 70. The news of Olivier Vandecasteele's conviction was reported only a few days after the constitutional court of Belgium ordered the suspension of the prisoner exchange agreement between Iran and Belgium. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='46505'> <reference source='https://bit.ly/3wDYHfN'> Mr. Vandecasteele was sentenced to 40 years in prison, cash fines, and 74 lashes. The judiciary's Mizan website reported that he has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison for espionage; for "professionally smuggling 500 thousand dollars in cash" to two years and six months in prison and confiscation of the smuggled money and a fine equal to twice the price of the discovered currency in rials and 74 lashes; for money laundering to the amount of 500 thousand dollars to 12 years and six months in prison and confiscation of the original amount and the profit from the crime that required money laundering. After applying article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, 12 years and six months of this sentence are enforceable. Also, cash fines are applied to other charges. Mizan stated that the primary court's sentence can be challenged at the appeal court in 20 days. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='46509'> <reference source='https://bit.ly/3WJ4yeF'> In a press conference about the prisoner exchange for Olivier Vandecasteele, a spokesperson for the judiciary exchange he spokesperson for the Islamic Republic judiciary said: > No country ignores or shows mercy when it comes to espionage. Our people are monitoring the behavior of the officials, and they won't allow us in the judiciary or any authority to take it easy on anyone. This individual has been tried by the judiciary. A qualified authority has made a decision about him and issued a verdict. We have done our duty regarding this defendant, and based on the conditions on the other side, we will make decisions about him. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='46516'> <reference source='http://bit.ly/3HEOQwK'> Almost 50 prominant Belgian figures started a campaign for the release of Olivier Vandecasteele. A group of parliament members also wrote a letter to the prime minister and government officials to travel to Iran and make efforts for his release. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='46510'> <reference source='https://www.instagram.com/p/CnuYpHjoVQz/'> People in Belgium gathered at Brussels in protest of his continued incarceration. According to BBC Persian his family attended the protest and demanded his immediate release. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='46519'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/32239285.html'> 61 members of the European parliament demanded the release of the Belgian aid workerAccording to Radio Farda, 61 members of European Parliament wrote a joint letter to the highest EU officials urging them to use all the diplomatic and political tools to free Olivier Vandecasteele. The MPs described Olivier Vandecasteele's arrest by IRGC as arbitrary and his condition inhumane and terrible. The letter also states that after Olivier Vandecasteele was detained and tortured in Evin Prison, he was transferred to a location unknown to his attorney and family. They went on to say that the Islamic Republic offers little information on his prison conditions and based on the phone calls and official visits of Belgian authorities, his cell has no window or access to sunlight and open air and he wasn't allowed to choose his attorney, and it was under these conditions that the court convicted him. Olivier Vandecasteele was taken hostage by the Islamic Republic in an attempt to exchange him with its diplomat Asadollah Asadi, who is currently in prison in Belgium for a bombin plot. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='46507'> <reference source='https://bit.ly/3Y37bJ8'> Judiciary's Mizan newspaper reported that the Islamic Rpeublic's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian had a talk with the Belgian Foreign Minister about "their two countries' topics of interest" and latest regional developments. The Belgian foreign minister offered condolences for the Khoy earthquake and offered Belgium's aid to help the victims of the earthquake. There was no mention of Olivier Vandecasteele in the report, only that both side expressed willingness for more joint efforts and discussed consulate cooperations. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='54887'> <reference source='https://bbc.com/persian/articles/cz7672g3z34o'> Olivier Vandecasteele was released. After the agreement between Iran and Belgium, Mr. Vandecasteele was exchanged with Asadollah Asadi. Asadollah Asadi was the third secretary of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Vienna, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Belgian court for the crime of planning to bomb the gathering of the People's Mojahedin Organization. Many observers called this action of the Belgian government a "shameful deal". They believed that the appeasement of the Islamic Republic by the west would encourage the Islamic Republic to continue its policy of taking Western citizens hostage. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56792'> <reference source='https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2024/03/14/l-iran-m-a-instrumentalise-pour-ses-marchandages-indignes_6221986_3210.html'> In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, Olivier Vandecasteele explained about his detention in Iran. "I invited some friends to say goodbye," he told Le Monde about how he was arrested. "The agents who came to arrest me were hiding behind the courier that brought the pizza." According to Mr. Vandecasteele, the agents refused to show him the arrest warrant and then transferred him to Evin prison. He also added that he spent nine months in Evin in total isolation, until he was moved to a three-bedroom safe house in August 2023, where he was alone. In the interview, Olivier Vandecasteele spoke of the "rough behavior of the former prison guards" and emphasized that during his detention, no legal procedures were followed and he was gradually allowed to make very few phone calls to his family in Belgium and have consular visits. According to the Le Monde report, the trial of Mr. Vandecasteele's case was held in November 2022, but until then, no reason had been presented by the Iranian authorities for his arrest. According to Olivier, in the spring of 2023, he was again transferred to Evin Prison, where he spent three days in a cell with Louis Arnaud, one of the four French hostages in Iran, Santiago Sánchez Cogdor, a Spanish prisoner, and Ahmad Reza Jalali, a dual Iranian-Swedish citizen who was to be executed. After these three days, Mr. Vandecasteele was transferred to another ward of Evin prison, where Afghan prisoners accused of being members of the Islamic State group (ISIS) were kept. "Iran took advantage of an aid worker for its shameful bargaining," Olivier Vandecasteele told Le Monde reporter. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>