Belgium submitted a request to Iran on Tuesday that jailed aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele be sent back to his country, which has agreed to a prisoner transfer treaty with Iran.
Belgian Vandecasteele was arrested on a visit to Iran in February 2022 and sentenced in January to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on charges including spying.
Belgium's justice minister has said he was convicted "for a fabricated series of crimes" and in retribution for a 20-year jail term given to an Iranian diplomat in 2021 over a foiled bomb plot.
Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said she had informed her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian of the “transfer request for our compatriot Olivier Vandecasteele.”
"I denounced his conditions of detention and requested a visit by our ambassador in Iran," she said.
The family of Vandecasteele recently said he was being held in solitary confinement and complained that "he could no longer sleep and could barely stand up straight because of excruciating muscle and nerve pain."
"His life is at stake: the lack of concrete action and quick results could put Olivier in an irreparable situation."
Iran has said it is open to a prisoner swap, indicating it would seek the return of the diplomat Assadollah Assadi, the first Iranian official to face trial for suspected terrorism in Europe since Iran's 1979 revolution.
The treaty's implementation was postponed due to legal challenges submitted by the Iranian opposition “People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran”.
In July last year, Belgium and Iran signed a prisoner-swap treaty that Brussels viewed as a path to free Vandecasteele, and the opposers viewed as a path to free Assadi.
Belgium's Constitutional Court suspended the treaty in December to look into its legality.
The Court rejected in March a challenge by the Iranian opposition but warned that in case the Iranian convict was transferred to his country then the Belgian government should make sure the rule is appealable.
Belgium submitted the official request to send Vandecasteele back to his country when the treaty became effective.
A foreign ministry spokesperson did not reply when asked if the Belgian transfer request was seen as leading to a prisoner exchange.
For its part, the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, and Development Cooperation didn’t comment on a question about whether Iran officially requested handing over Assadi.
