(VRT) The court of first instance in Brussels has thrown out a request to stop Belgium from handing over the convicted Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi to Tehran saying the request is unfounded in law.
The decision means that in principle the Belgian NGO worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who is locked up in Iran, can be exchanged for Assadi as part of the prisoner exchange agreed between Brussels and Tehran.
A court in Antwerp last year sentenced Assadi to 20 years in prison after he was found guilty of complicity in a foiled attack on the Iranian opposition in Paris.
