The Belgian Constitutional Court on Thursday halted a controversial prisoner exchange with Iran in which Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism Assadolah Assadi was implicated.
The sentence paralyzes the extradition of Assadi to Iran and annuls the corresponding agreement between the two countries to make an exchange with the Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, imprisoned since February 2022 and who has recently started a hunger strike for the “inhumane treatment” he received. would be subjected
The judicial ruling has argued that the exchange violated the rights of the victims of Assadi, who had been sentenced to twenty years in prison for preparing, together with Iran, an attack against a group of opponents who were scheduled to meet in June 2018 in a French city. close to Paris.
In this sense, the Constitutional Court maintains that Iran could not be trusted to carry out the sentence Assadi, who was accredited as a diplomat at the Iranian embassy in Vienna, reports the Belgian news agency.
The Belgian Constitutional decision is the last stage of a long judicial process in the country’s courts, after another ruling in October lifted the ban on this extradition.
The exchange was part of an agreement between Brussels and Tehran that, despite strong criticism from public opinion, was approved by Parliament in July.
