Report: Iran Sentences Belgian to 40 Years in Prison on ‘Fabricated’ Charges

DUBAI (Reuters)—Iran has sentenced a Belgian national to 40 years in jail and 74 lashes for charges including spying, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, a significant increase on the 28-year sentence Belgium had reported in December.

Tasnim reported that Olivier Vandecasteele, an aid worker, was sentenced to four charges including spying on Iran and cooperating with the United States in the fight against Iran. He also faces currency smuggling and money laundering.

Vandecasteele denies all charges

Belgium’s Justice Minister said in December that Vandecasteele was being held in prison “for a fabricated series of crimes” He was sentenced in retribution to a Belgian court’s 20-year prison sentence imposed on an Iranian diplomat back in 2021.

After a foiled plot against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) was attacked near Paris, Assadolah Assadi has been found guilty of attempted terrorism.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by Conor Humphries).