BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgium’s Constitutional Court said on Friday it had rejected an appeal to have the prisoner transfer treaty concluded between Brussels and Tehran annulled, which could allow the exchange of an Iranian diplomat convicted for a plot to attack Iranian opponents in France against a Belgian aid worker detained in Iran.
The Belgian deputies had adopted the text in July but the entry into force of this one remained suspended with the decision of justice.
The Belgian government plans to swap Assadolah Assadi, convicted of a planned bombing that was to target a 2018 National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) rally in Villepinte, near Paris, for worker Olivier Vandecasteele humanitarian sentenced last month to 40 years in prison in Iran for “espionage”.
While validating the treaty, the Constitutional Court nevertheless specified that if the Belgian government decides to transfer a detainee to Iran, it must inform its victims to give them the possibility of contesting this decision in court, which could again delay the process.
(Written by Philip Blenkinsop and Andrew Gray, French version Tangi Salaün, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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