Belgium's Constitutional Court rejected legal challenges to a prisoner exchange with Iran, setting the stage for the possible swap of a Belgium jailed in Iran for a former Iranian diplomat serving a 20-year sentence in Belgium. The court rejected a challenge by an exiled Iranian opposition group to a treaty allowing the swap. Aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, arrested during an Iran visit in February 2022, was sentenced to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on spying charges rejected by Brussels. Iran seeks the release of Assadollah Assadi, sentenced in Belgium in 2021 over an unsuccessful 2018 bomb plot. To read the origional story from RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.
