2023-06-05 08:12:00
The head of government, accompanied by his foreign and defense ministers, Hadja Lahbib and Ludivine Dedonder, had met the humanitarian worker as soon as he arrived on May 26 at Melsbsroek military airport. He came from the Sultanate of Oman which played the role of “intermediary” between Belgium and Iran, explained Mr. De Croo.
“At that time, no,” said the Prime Minister on Monday at the microphone of RTBF’s Matin Première program when asked if he had “told everything” to Olivier Vandecasteele, as to d other people who questioned him about a possible follow-up to the operation. Baptized Blackstone, it also led to the return to the country of an Iranian diplomat convicted in Belgium of terrorism, Assadollah Assadi.
“At that time, and it was difficult, I made the choice not to tell the fact that there was a second part. Because the risk was too great for three people who we knew we was going to release them. But I wanted to be sure that we could do it. Their life was more important,” said De Croo.
The three Europeans released by Iran after mediation by Belgium and thanks to the help of Oman returned to their country on Saturday after passing through Brussels.
Danish national Thomas Kjems told reporters waiting for him in Copenhagen that he was treated well in Iran. He was arrested in November 2022 “on the sidelines of rallies for women’s rights”.
The two Iranian-Austrians, Kamran Ghaderi, a businessman arrested in January 2016, and Massud Mossaheb, who spent almost four years in detention before being released in November 2022 on medical grounds without being able to leave Iran, also returned to Vienna on Saturday.
“Our desire has always been to release as many innocent prisoners as possible, clearly with a priority for Olivier Vandecasteele”, released a week earlier,” De Croo said on Monday.
“But at that time the agreement (with Iran, editor’s note) was already that several people were going to be released,” he said.
Mr De Croo acknowledged that the past week had been characterized by “72 tense hours” due to “complications on the ground”.
“It is a success for Belgian diplomacy” that we managed to free four people, he said, welcoming the action of the intelligence and security services and for the diplomatic services.
Belgium has thus received requests from other countries to contribute to the release of foreign nationals detained in Iranian prisons. “If you see the opportunity to free them, try,” said these governments, according to Me De Croo. “And we took these requests to heart,” he said.
Finally, the head of government thanked the Sultanate of Oman for the help provided and the role of intermediary played between Belgium and Iran.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs will travel to Muscat on Thursday to “thank the Omani authorities for having facilitated the release of our compatriot, Olivier Vandecasteele, and the three European citizens”, according to her department.
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