On Tuesday, the parliamentary committee on foreign relations unanimously supported a majority resolution asking the government to use “all diplomatic means” to immediately release Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele imprisoned in Iran.
Vandecasteele has been in a cell in Iran for almost a year. He was recently sentenced to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes for espionage, among other things, although the Iranian authorities have not confirmed this information from the Iranian press. The government is striving for Vandecasteele’s release and, in anticipation of this, for an improvement in his detention conditions, but this has not yet produced the desired result.
In a resolution by Open VLD MP Jasper Pillen, the Chamber condemns the arbitrary arrest of Vandecasteele, as well as the mock trial that led to his imprisonment. The representatives also ask the government, among other things, to use “all diplomatic means” to plead with the Iranian authorities for the “immediate and unconditional release” of Vandecasteele and to prevent any torture and other ill-treatment.
Personal Travel to Iran
The government must also put the dossier for the House on the agenda of the next European summit, it sounds. On Wednesday, Nathalie Vandecasteele, Olivier’s sister, will come to the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations. The aid worker’s family is also in the dark about Vandecasteele’s fate.
The Open VLD parliamentary group previously called on Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib to personally travel to Iran to defend Vandecasteele’s interests and to ascertain his condition. Vandecasteele was on a partial hunger strike for a while and is said to have lost a lot of weight.
Experts United Nations
UN experts are also calling for Vandecasteele’s release. “The arbitrary detention of a Belgian humanitarian aid worker in Iran violates international law,” say independent experts from the United Nations.
“We believe that Mr. Vandecasteele has been unlawfully deprived of his liberty and has been subjected to enforced disappearance during several periods of his detention. We call on the Iranian authorities to end the institutionalized practice of hostage-taking and to recognize the many foreigners and dual nationalities who are arbitrarily detained,” the experts emphasize.
The experts are part of the UN Human Rights Council, but emphasize that they do not speak on behalf of the UN.
This article is originally published on .bruzz.be
