BRUSSELS: Hundreds of demonstrators on Sunday (Jan 22) urged Belgium to push harder to secure the release of aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, held by Iran in a case decried as 'hostage diplomacy'. The crowd, gathered in freezing temperatures in central Brussels, chanted 'Free Olivier' and sang Happy Birth
BRUSSELS: Hundreds of demonstrators on Sunday urged Belgium to push harder to secure the release of aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, held by Iran in a case decried as"hostage diplomacy".
Olivier Van Steirtegem, a spokesman for the family, insisted that"every minute, every second counts" and that they hoped growing public pressure for his release would push the Belgian authorities to find a solution faster. UN rights experts have slammed Vandecasteele's detention as a"flagrant violation" of international law.
The plot was foiled by European intelligence services, and Assadi, a diplomat stationed in Austria who was identified as having provided the explosives for the bomb, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.