2023-06-05 18:20:50
In the opposition, voices have already been raised to demand that the treaty be denounced.
In the majority, questions are also heard. “Are you going to denounce the text? I think the question should legitimately be asked.“, a dit Samuel Coglati (Ecolo-Green).
At MR, Denis Ducarme also relayed this concern: “Should this text be repealed? There is a debate here in parliament“, underlined the deputy who had abstained in July on this text. The liberal, who sat in the commission of inquiries into the attacks of 2016, made a dissonant voice heard: “We cannot be proud because we had to free a terrorist”, he added, weighing the “duty” to free a compatriot imprisoned in Iran against the “shameof this release.
This denunciation does not seem to be on the agenda. The Minister of Justice recalled the importance of the treaty which enabled negotiations with Iran. “First an agreement (with Iran) was needed to carry out the operation. The treaty is a legitimate instrument that we could possibly use, except that the Constitutional Court has set conditions and that Iran had not yet responded to our request for the transfer of Olivier Vandecasteele“.
While he said he was proud of the fact that Belgium does not let its citizens down, the Prime Minister insisted on “humility“who inhabited it before the choice that had to be made to obtain the release of the Belgian humanitarian worker.”But this is not the deal Iran wanted. They wanted a pure trade, we got a bigger deal“, he assured. For a long time, the Belgian authorities tried to include Dr. Djalali, a professor at the Iranian-Swedish VUB, in the agreement but Iran systematically refused to do so.
However, they will continue to plead for his release, said the three ministers.
1686010825
#Release #Olivier #Vandecasteele #Belgium #pleads #European #approach #Iran