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BRUSSELS, June 19 (Reuters) - Belgian foreign affairs minister Hadja Lahbib is facing calls for resignation after granting visas to delegations from Iranian and Russian cities to attend a mayors convention in Brussels last week. State secretary for external relations & foreign trade of the Brussels government Pascal Smet resigned on Sunday over the all-expenses paid trip. I am now asking the organizers, Metropolis, to bear these costs," Smet told a press conference on Sunday. Why only three weeks after the release of Olivier Vandecasteele, she accepts that terrorists come to Brussels? And why must the name of Belgium always be sullied by foreign relations which it cannot manage to control?"
Persons: Hadja Lahbib, Lahbib, Olivier Vandecasteele, Pascal Smet, Smet, Darya Safai, Safai, Marine Strauss, Benoit Van Overstraeten Organizations: Belgian, Brussels Urban, European Commission, Sunday, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Belgian, Brussels, Vandecasteele, Iran, Iranian, Belgium, Bogota, Kyiv, Tehran, Kazan
They arrived around 2:45 a.m. (0045 GMT) and were greeted by Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib, Belgium's Belga news agency reported. Danish citizen Thomas Kjems flew on to Copenhagen, landing at around 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Saturday. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg tweeted photos of the two Austrians arriving in Vienna. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian tweeted on Saturday that he had told Lahbib that he hoped the prisoners' release would "open a new page" in Iran's relations with Belgium and Europe. Belgian government officials said that officially there were still 22 Europeans in Iranian prisons, but that no more Europeans would be exchanged for Assadi.
Persons: Thomas Kjems, Read, Dane, Asadollah Assadi, Olivier Vandecasteele, Assadi, Hadja Lahbib, Belgium's, It's, I've, Alexander Schallenberg, Hossein Amirabdollahian, Lahbib, Amirabdollahian, Massud Mosaheb, Kamran Ghaderi, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Kazem, Ahmadreza, Louise Rasmussen, Tom Little, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Bart Biesemans, Andrew Gray, Francois Murphy, Hugh Lawson, Mark Potter, Frances Kerry Organizations: Copenhagen Airport, Europeans, Belgian Foreign, Austrian, Ministry, Austrian Friendship Society, Danish, Assadi, Iranian, Thomson Locations: Copenhagen, Denmark, Iran, BRUSSELS, DUBAI, Tehran, Belgian, Belgium, France, Oman, Danish, Vienna, Iranian, Europe, ., Swedish, Brussels, Dubai
Iran diplomat jailed in Belgium to be freed in swap - Iran
  + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +1 min
DUBAI, April 26 (Reuters) - An Iranian diplomat jailed for 20 years in Belgium will soon be released in a prisoner swap, Iran's judiciary spokesperson said on Wednesday. "Belgium has requested an exchange and so have we for our diplomat Asadollah Assadi. In March, Belgium's Constitutional Court upheld a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran that could lead to Assadi being swapped for a jailed Belgian aid worker. Last week, Belgium submitted a request to Iran that the jailed aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, be sent back to his country in accordance with the prisoner transfer treaty. Assadi was jailed for 20-years in 2021 over a 2018 foiled bomb plot targeting an Iranian opposition group in Paris.
[1/6] People hold pictures of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele during a protest against his detention in Iran, as he was sentenced to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on charges including spying, in Brussels, Belgium January 22, 2023. REUTERS/Yves HermanBRUSSELS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Thousands of people took to the streets of Brussels on Sunday to protest against the detention in Iran of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison on charges including spying. "His life is in danger, contribute to his freedom," "#Free Olivier Vandecasteele," read banners held by protesters who included Vandecasteele's family, friends and colleagues. Belgium's constitutional court will next month hold a hearing on the legality of a Belgian prisoner exchange treaty with Iran. Reporting by Marine Strauss @StraussMarine, Clement Rossignol Editing by Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
The sentence imposed on aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, was more severe than the 28-year term Belgium had reported in December. It said Vandecasteele, who was arrested while on a visit to Iran in February last year, could appeal the verdict. Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib condemned Vandecasteele's "arbitrary detention" on Twitter and said Iran's ambassador to Brussels would be summoned in protest at the sentencing. "The family is devastated by the news," Olivier Van Steirtegem, who is Vandecasteele's best friend and has been acting as the family's spokesperson, told Reuters. "Olivier is a victim, a hostage," Van Steirtegem said, adding that the Belgian government should do everything possible to free Vandecasteele and condemn Iran's "hostage diplomacy".
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