Brussels: In a case that has been criticised as hostage diplomacy, the Iranian president was urged on Wednesday by the prime minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, to "immediately" release an aid worker.

The Iranian government detained Olivier Vandecasteele, 42, in February 2022 and later sentenced him to more than 12 years in prison and 74 lashes for "espionage" at the beginning of this year.

"My message was very clear: Olivier Vandecasteele is an innocent man and must be released immediately," De Croo tweeted after a phone call with Iran's Ebrahim Raisi.

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His cruel prison conditions must change in the interim.
Vandecasteele's detention has been criticised by UN human rights experts as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

His supporters and rights organisations claim that he is being detained as part of Iran's "hostage diplomacy" to compel Belgium to free an Iranian diplomat detained for terrorism.

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Assadollah Assadi, a diplomat, was found guilty in 2021 of orchestrating a plot to blow up an event hosted by an opposition group from Iran in exile outside of Paris in 2018.

The plot was thwarted by European intelligence services, and Assadi, an Austrian-based diplomat who was identified as having supplied the bomb's explosives, was given a 20-year prison sentence.

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A prisoner swap agreement between Belgium and Iran was signed in July of last year, and Brussels saw this as a way to free Vandecasteele.
However, the treaty was put on hold by Belgium's Constitutional Court after it was challenged by exiled Iranian opposition figures on the grounds that it would result in Assadi's release. By March 8, the court is expected to make a decision regarding the treaty's legality.