I´m a bit surprised. I didn´t think the exchange would happen.
I am glad for him though. This has saved his life and must be an immense relief for his family. I really wonder how you get over this physically and most of all psychologically. I hope he can manage.
Disappointing that they did not get Djalali into the deal.
I sure hope they didn’t trade the terrorist for him. I don’t mean this random Belgian man any harm, but trading his life for a terrorist who tried to kill many and will undoubtedly try to do it again?
What happened to “we do not negotiate with terrorists”? Giving in to the demands of a terrorist state like Iran is just a terrible precedent.
amazing news, the traumas that guy must have
Fijn voor hem en zijn familie.
Hij moet er nu ook mee leven dat zijn vrijheid met een zware prijs komt. Wie weet wat die terrorist nog allemaal zal doen.
Blackmail works.
Stemmakerij, verbaasd me niks en verwacht me aan een stijging van Belgisch staat burgers die vast gezet gaan worden in die regio.
Een gast geruild voor de veiligheid van alle staatsburgers in de buurt, zou me niks verbazen als die gast binnen een paar jaar daar weer zit en weer vast komt te zitten.
I’ll buy him a beer if I ever see him.
Finally
How long did he end up staying over there in prison?
Er gaat er ene frieten eten vanavond
I have a very bad feeling about this.
The Belgian rule of law has been sacrificed to free someone who was warned not to go there.
This precedent shows that blackmail works and can only encourage Iran to repeat this practice. No Belgian should step foot in Iran again as long as the current regime is in charge. At the very least, the Belgian government should now replace the blackmail law with a new one stating that any Belgian who decides to go to Iran does it 100% at their own risk and will not be helped by the Belgian state (so that it can no longer be blackmailed).
The message this sends to the Iranian opposition, who the terrorist tried to bomb, is also disastrous.
That said, good for O. Vandecasteele, I hope he gets to enjoy life (responsibly).
What if we would ‘arrest” some iranian diplomats now on the base of ‘spionage”.
We could trade them to get the terrorist back
Obviously this could set a spiral of misery I know
only 7 years ago we did send a handelsmissie to this country to do business despite knowing what a vile leadership there was
I’m ready to get downvoted : all the people who think it’s a shame to exchange him would have made the same choice is someone from their family was in prison in Iran.
I’m glad he can finally get the medical care he needs but I would also advise all Belgians in Iran to GTFO. Right now the regime will be planning their next kidnapping of foreign citizens.
Good for him, shit for millions
wel lachen krijgen een nietsnut voor een crimineel
Het is echt tijd dat westerse landen hier mee stoppen. Landen als Iran, Rusland en China kunnen hier zomaar hun gang gaan want ze weten dat als hun man gepakt wordt ze gewoon zelf iemand kunnen pakken om een gevangenruil ten forceren. Maak samen met de EU, VS en Canada een lijst van landen waar je onder geen enkele voorwaarden gevangen mee ruilt en maak het heel duidelijk aan iedereen dat als ze toch naar zo’n lang gaan en zonder reden worden opgepakt dat ze dan maar de lul zijn.
Probeert men ZO de WANSMAAK te verbergen van dat VULGAIRE proces van die gommers?
Imagine if it turns out he actually was a spy lol.
Remember. This man was kidnapped weeks after Belgium agreed on the concept of prisoner exchanges with Iran.
The deal wasn’t cooked up to save him
He was taken as currency and leverage by Iran because Belgium reached out as a willing sucker.
Belgium getting played by Iran isn’t much of a surprise but sad sh!t handing over a convicted terrorist for some rando.
I thought we didn’t negotiate with terrorists
I followed this the entire time and I’m happy he’s released/ they did the swap. That other guy was a terrorist, but could get out within a couple of years. So it wouldn’t really matter. But for Olivier and his family every day counted.
I’ve been to Iran twice (I’m Belgian with Turkish roots), while there was a negative travel advice. Nothing happened. The people are the nicest I’ve ever encountered abroad as a tourist. The government on the other hand… I’ll wait for a while to go back now.
Any updates on Djalali?
I’m surprised about the many disapproving comments. In an ideal world you don’t negotiate with terrorists indeed, but an innocent Belgian citizen was going through hell in a prison over there. He could barely stand on his feet anymore, suffered from malnutricion, was in a prison with terrible conditions, and there was even the threat of an execution. He wasn’t sentenced to death, but we all know how unreliable the local authorities are.
As a government, you cannot just watch that happen to a citizen of your country and do nothing. He had to be saved. That he was naive to travel to Iran in the given circumstances doesn’t mean he deserved to be in a prison in horrible conditions.
I don’t think we have to worry too much about opening a Pandora’s box. First of all, given the turmoil and unrest in Iran not many people will travel there right now. And it’s not like any foreigner entering Iran will be arrested for the sake of getting Iranian prisoners out of our jails. This case was quite particular because the person involved was a high-profile person accused of terrorism. I don’t think Iranian authorities would make much effort to get a random low-profile prisoner out of a foreign jail.
Let’s just be glad Olivier is back home and hopefully can start full recovery. I hope the traumas he has can be dealt with, I’m sure he’ll get psychological assistance. Glad he’s back home.
27 comments
I´m a bit surprised. I didn´t think the exchange would happen.
I am glad for him though. This has saved his life and must be an immense relief for his family. I really wonder how you get over this physically and most of all psychologically. I hope he can manage.
Disappointing that they did not get Djalali into the deal.
I sure hope they didn’t trade the terrorist for him. I don’t mean this random Belgian man any harm, but trading his life for a terrorist who tried to kill many and will undoubtedly try to do it again?
What happened to “we do not negotiate with terrorists”? Giving in to the demands of a terrorist state like Iran is just a terrible precedent.
amazing news, the traumas that guy must have
Fijn voor hem en zijn familie.
Hij moet er nu ook mee leven dat zijn vrijheid met een zware prijs komt. Wie weet wat die terrorist nog allemaal zal doen.
Blackmail works.
Stemmakerij, verbaasd me niks en verwacht me aan een stijging van Belgisch staat burgers die vast gezet gaan worden in die regio.
Een gast geruild voor de veiligheid van alle staatsburgers in de buurt, zou me niks verbazen als die gast binnen een paar jaar daar weer zit en weer vast komt te zitten.
I’ll buy him a beer if I ever see him.
Finally
How long did he end up staying over there in prison?
Er gaat er ene frieten eten vanavond
I have a very bad feeling about this.
The Belgian rule of law has been sacrificed to free someone who was warned not to go there.
This precedent shows that blackmail works and can only encourage Iran to repeat this practice. No Belgian should step foot in Iran again as long as the current regime is in charge. At the very least, the Belgian government should now replace the blackmail law with a new one stating that any Belgian who decides to go to Iran does it 100% at their own risk and will not be helped by the Belgian state (so that it can no longer be blackmailed).
The message this sends to the Iranian opposition, who the terrorist tried to bomb, is also disastrous.
That said, good for O. Vandecasteele, I hope he gets to enjoy life (responsibly).
What if we would ‘arrest” some iranian diplomats now on the base of ‘spionage”.
We could trade them to get the terrorist back
Obviously this could set a spiral of misery I know
only 7 years ago we did send a handelsmissie to this country to do business despite knowing what a vile leadership there was
I’m ready to get downvoted : all the people who think it’s a shame to exchange him would have made the same choice is someone from their family was in prison in Iran.
I’m glad he can finally get the medical care he needs but I would also advise all Belgians in Iran to GTFO. Right now the regime will be planning their next kidnapping of foreign citizens.
Good for him, shit for millions
wel lachen krijgen een nietsnut voor een crimineel
Het is echt tijd dat westerse landen hier mee stoppen. Landen als Iran, Rusland en China kunnen hier zomaar hun gang gaan want ze weten dat als hun man gepakt wordt ze gewoon zelf iemand kunnen pakken om een gevangenruil ten forceren. Maak samen met de EU, VS en Canada een lijst van landen waar je onder geen enkele voorwaarden gevangen mee ruilt en maak het heel duidelijk aan iedereen dat als ze toch naar zo’n lang gaan en zonder reden worden opgepakt dat ze dan maar de lul zijn.
Probeert men ZO de WANSMAAK te verbergen van dat VULGAIRE proces van die gommers?
Imagine if it turns out he actually was a spy lol.
Remember. This man was kidnapped weeks after Belgium agreed on the concept of prisoner exchanges with Iran.
The deal wasn’t cooked up to save him
He was taken as currency and leverage by Iran because Belgium reached out as a willing sucker.
Belgium getting played by Iran isn’t much of a surprise but sad sh!t handing over a convicted terrorist for some rando.
I thought we didn’t negotiate with terrorists
I followed this the entire time and I’m happy he’s released/ they did the swap. That other guy was a terrorist, but could get out within a couple of years. So it wouldn’t really matter. But for Olivier and his family every day counted.
I’ve been to Iran twice (I’m Belgian with Turkish roots), while there was a negative travel advice. Nothing happened. The people are the nicest I’ve ever encountered abroad as a tourist. The government on the other hand… I’ll wait for a while to go back now.
Any updates on Djalali?
I’m surprised about the many disapproving comments. In an ideal world you don’t negotiate with terrorists indeed, but an innocent Belgian citizen was going through hell in a prison over there. He could barely stand on his feet anymore, suffered from malnutricion, was in a prison with terrible conditions, and there was even the threat of an execution. He wasn’t sentenced to death, but we all know how unreliable the local authorities are.
As a government, you cannot just watch that happen to a citizen of your country and do nothing. He had to be saved. That he was naive to travel to Iran in the given circumstances doesn’t mean he deserved to be in a prison in horrible conditions.
I don’t think we have to worry too much about opening a Pandora’s box. First of all, given the turmoil and unrest in Iran not many people will travel there right now. And it’s not like any foreigner entering Iran will be arrested for the sake of getting Iranian prisoners out of our jails. This case was quite particular because the person involved was a high-profile person accused of terrorism. I don’t think Iranian authorities would make much effort to get a random low-profile prisoner out of a foreign jail.
Let’s just be glad Olivier is back home and hopefully can start full recovery. I hope the traumas he has can be dealt with, I’m sure he’ll get psychological assistance. Glad he’s back home.
ok so what was the ‘best’ solution?