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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
World
RFI

Paris bomb plot mastermind swapped with aid worker in Iran-Belgium deal

Iran Assadollah Assadi Belgium Olivier Vandecasteele Alexander De Croo France MEK Tehran Brussels Prison
Freed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele (L) embraces family members as he disembarks an aircraft on the tarmac upon his return to Belgium after almost 15 months of captivity in Iran, at Melsbroek military airport north of Brussels, on May 26, 2023. AFP - DIDIER LEBRUN

Belgium and Iran exchanged prisoners on Friday in a controversial move that saw an Iranian diplomat convicted of attempting to bomb exiles in France returning to Tehran bedecked in flowers while a visibly gaunt aid worker headed back to Brussels.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a statement that the aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, had been freed and said that for him, “the choice was always clear: Olivier's life was always the most important."

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