BRUSSELS: Three more Europeans are being released by Iran in return for Iranian diplomat Asadollah Assadi as part of a prisoner swap in which Iran released Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele last week, a spokesperson for the Belgian government said.
A Danish national and two people with dual Austrian-Iranian nationality are involved, the spokesperson said.
Assadi was convicted in Belgium in 2021 in connection to a foiled bomb plot in France and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In a statement, the Belgian government said that the Danish person was arrested in Iran in November 2022 in connection with women’s rights demonstrations.
The two dual nationals were “wrongfully arrested in … January 2016 and January 2019”, the government said.
After medical tests, the three will be flown to Belgium’s military airport in Melsbroek following a stop in Oman.
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