Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (centre) is surrounded by a group of lawmakers after the conclusion of his speech on his budget bill at the parliament in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, January 11, 2023
IRAN has sentenced a Belgian aid worker to 74 lashes and a lengthy prison term after convicting him of spying in a closed-door trial, state media reported on Tuesday.
The website of Iran’s judiciary said a revolutionary court sentenced Olivier Vandecasteele to prison for spying, collaboration with hostile governments and money laundering — each conviction carrying a 12-and-a-half-year sentence.
Mr Vandecasteele was also fined $1 million (£825,000) and sentenced to two and a half years for currency smuggling.
The Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (Codir) welcomes demonstrations across Iran, which have put pressure upon the theocratic dictatorship, but warns against intervention by the United States to force Iran in a particular direction
