Accused Of Being A US Spy, Belgian Aid Workers Sentenced To 74 Cambukan And 40 Years In Iran

Illustration of protests in Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Darafsh)

JAKARTA - Iran sentenced a 40-year Belgian aid worker to prison and 74 lashes for alleged spying for the United States, money laundering and currency smuggling, Iran's court said on Tuesday.

Justice website Mizan said the Revolutionary Court sentenced Olivier Vandekeele to 12 and a half years in prison for espionage, 12 and a half years for working with a hostile government and 12 and a half years for money laundering. He was also fined $ 1 million and sentenced to two and a half years for currency smuggling.

Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib condemned Vandecastele's "arbitrary detention", saying Iranian Ambassador to Brussels would be called up as a protest over the sentence.

"Iran did not provide official information regarding the charges against Olivier Vandecastele or his trial," Foreign Minister Lahbib said on Twitter, as reported by The National News Jan. 11.

"We will summon the Iranian Ambassador today," he said, adding "Belgium continues to condemn arbitrary detention and do everything possible to end it and improve its detention conditions."

It is unclear whether the charges are linked to anti-government protests that have rocked Iran over the past four months, which Iranian authorities have blamed on foreign powers, without providing evidence.

Under Iranian law, Vandecastele (41) will be eligible to be released after 12 and a half years. The judiciary website said the ruling could be appealed.

Vandekeele's family said last month he had been detained in Iranian prison for months and went on a hunger strike. They said he lost access to his attorney for choice and suffered serious health problems.

Meanwhile, Belgium has urged its citizens to leave Iran, warning that it faces the risk of arbitrary arrests or unfair courts.

Iran has detained many foreigners and dual citizenship for years, often punishing them after a secret trial in which rights groups say they have been denied legal proceedings.

Critics have accused Iran of using such detainees as a bargaining chip with the West, a charge Iranian officials have denied.

The Vandekeele family and rights groups, including Amnesty International, said the case was an example of Iran's tactics to take foreigners hostage to pressure western countries to make concessions.

His family said in July Iran was trying to force Belgium to release one of its diplomats, who was found guilty in 2021 for masterminding a failed bomb attack in 2018 outside Paris.

On March 11, less than three weeks after his arrest, Belgium signed a prisoner swap agreement with Iran.

Iran has been hit by protests since the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, a Kurdish woman in a moral police custody for violating strict dress codes on September 16.

The number of people who have been announced by the court has been sentenced to death in connection with protests to 18 people.

Iranian authorities say hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed and thousands arrested during the protests, most of which they described as "crushes". Tehran accuses hostile foreign countries and opposition groups of sparking riots.