AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele has been sentenced to 28 years in prison in Iran, a source with knowledge of the situation said on Wednesday.
The source confirmed a report by Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad that Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and other members of his cabinet had informed Vandecasteele’s family about the sentence on Tuesday.
Justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne is expected to answer questions about the situation in Belgian parliament later on Wednesday.
41-year old Vandecasteele has been detained by Iran for almost a year, but the charges against have remained unclear.
Belgium has repeatedly said there are no grounds for his detention.
Iranian authorities have yet to comment on the matter.
“It’s a disgrace and a tragedy for Olivier and his family,” family spokesman Olivier Van Steirtegem told Het Nieuwsblad.
“He is innocent and the victim of a larger, shady international game.”
Last week, the Belgian constitutional court suspended an agreement between Iran and Belgium that would have made it possible to swap prisoners between the two countries.
That deal was seen by his family as the only hope for Vandecasteele, who according to Belgian media might have been swapped for Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian who last year was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in Belgium for trying to stage a bomb attack in Paris.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi, editing by Alexandra Hudson)
