BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Iran on Friday released one Danish and two Austrian-Iranian citizens it had been holding after mediation by Oman, and they are being flown to Belgium, said the country’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
He added that he had informed the governments of Denmark and Austria of the release, which came a week after Tehran freed a Belgian aid worker in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who was convicted on terrorism charges.
Vienna reacted with relief, naming the two freed Austrian-Iranian men as Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb, who had been arrested “unjustly” by Iran in January 2016 and January 2019, respectively.
Thanking Belgium, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said, “Our years of diplomatic efforts to secure their release have borne fruit… Today is a very emotional day for all of us.”
The Danish man, who was not immediately identified, had been arrested in Iran in November 2022 on the sidelines of a demonstration for women’s rights, De Croo said in a statement.
“Belgium is currently organizing their evacuation via Oman to Belgium” after medical examinations, he added.
They were to land at the Melsbroek military airport, just outside Brussels, where Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib would greet them.
That was the same airport where Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele arrived on May 26 upon being freed by Iran after 15 months in captivity.
His liberation was obtained in exchange for Belgium freeing Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, who had been imprisoned for a 2018 plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally outside Paris.
Iran had leveled charges of “espionage” at Vandecasteele but his family, the Belgian government and rights groups all say that was a fabricated case used to pressure Brussels for Assadi’s release.
Diplomat’s release criticized
The exiled Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), which was the target of the 2018 bomb plot, criticized Assadi’s release, saying it violated a Belgian court order requiring them to be consulted first.
Critics of the exchange said it would encourage Tehran to take Belgians hostage as bargaining chips to seek the return of agents like Assadi arrested for terror offences in the West.
De Croo stressed that his government “continues to fight for the respect of human rights and the release of European citizens unjustly detained by Iran”.
There was no immediate confirmation from Iran of the three Europeans’ release.
The exact number of foreign passport holders held by Iran is thought to be in the dozens but is not precisely known, as the families of some of the detainees have opted to negotiate out of the public eye.
Austria’s Schallenberg said of his two compatriots, “We are especially happy for the brave families who have suffered so much in recent years. Now they can finally embrace their husbands, fathers and grandfather again in freedom.”
The Gulf sultanate of Oman has emerged as a key interlocutor between the West and Iran.
In 2016 it also played a mediator role in the release of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other US citizens who had been held by Tehran.