Systematic and widespread attacks against unarmed civilians during protests in Iran have been insufficiently addressed by the European Union and its member states, according to former Iran hostage and humanitarian worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who urged the bloc to severe diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.
He said the sanctions and political isolation imposed on Tehran by Western powers have been insufficient and that Europe has collectively failed to stop Iran’s crimes.
“The playbook scenario repeats itself with impunity: crackdown, blackout, killings, mass arrests, and executions. We need to change gear,” Vandecasteele told Euronews, arguing that a different and more decisive response is now warranted against what he said could amount to crimes against humanity.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has increased pressure against the Islamic Republic by banning Iranian diplomats from entering the institution. EU Foreign Affairs chief Kaja Kallas separately said that the bloc is ready to push for more sanctions against Iran.
Besides cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, Vandecasteele, a Belgian national, said Europe should put a halt to all remaining cooperation with Tehran, expel regime representatives from the bloc, and strengthen accountability and justice mechanisms such as the United Nations fact-finding mission on Iran.
“I know from experience that a number of Iranian interlocutors are still actively seeking to exert influence in places like Brussels, Geneva and New York in support of the regime’s agenda,” Vandecasteele said.
He also urged the EU to get tougher on sanctions, but cautioned against further punishing the country’s impoverished population. The challenge, he said, is to target the people who are committing crimes now, without harming the population that is suffering.
The Iranian regime ends up using these sanctions as a way to show the population that their suffering is caused by foreign powers, Vandecasteele explained.
Branding the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organisation
“I would encourage not just more sanctions, but also clearly the listing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, which has been asked and voted in the European Parliament several times, but has never been acted upon,” he suggested.
Several European citizens, like Vandecasteele, have been arbitrarily detained in Iran and, since their release, are in search of justice and reparations.
“So far, the answers we receive is that member states are hesitant to confront Iran over well-documented human rights violations, even when European citizens are among the victims,” he said.
He went on explaining that one of the reasons he was unable to receive support from Belgium and psychological aid after he was released from prison in May 2023 was that his capture and detention in Iran were not qualified as a terrorist act.
Vandecasteele was held captive for 456 days over accusations he was a spy. He was first sentenced to 28 years in December 2022 and then to 40 years in January 2023.
The United Nations concluded that he was a victim of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Citing his own experience, he explained that when one is detained in Iran “you’re not just fighting one man at a time, you’re fighting a whole machine where everyone is against you. And you are cut from the rest of the world.”
“They (the Iranian regime) are capable of anything to cling to power. That’s all they want now, and I think they’re now fighting for survival,” he said, adding that Iran is prepared to kill, detain, and torture on a large scale to achieve that end.
He said there is no separation of powers in Iran. “In Europe, we too often fail to grasp how the different parts of the (Iranian) system operate together to protect the regime. Foreign affairs, intelligence, the Revolutionary Guard, the justice system, and even state media function hand in hand,” Vandecaesteele said.
He said that Iranian diplomacy “defends the regime at any cost” tactically luring foreign counterparts into endless negotiations. Meanwhile, he went on, intelligence services continue with arrests, interrogations, and torture, while the justice system fast-tracks trials and executions.
“The idea that Europe can engage Iran’s foreign ministry as if it were separate from the regime committing human rights violations and crimes is, at best, naïve,” he claimed.
From protests to revolution
Iranian officials say more than 2,000 people have been killed since protests against the Islamic regime started on December 28, but non-governmental organizations believe the figure is much higher.
“We shouldn’t call it a protest anymore but actually a revolution given the support that is coming from all parts of the country with a strong desire to change,” Vandecasteele observed, noting, however, that one of the challenges is that there is no consensus on the kind of governance that should replace Iran’s clerics, at the helm since 1979.
“I think Iranians are powerful enough to lead their country by themselves. An external intervention could only be used again as a way for the regime to self-sustain itself,” the Belgian humanitarian worker said.
In 2024, Vandecaesteele founded “Protect Humanitarians,” an NGO that advocates for better protection of humanitarian aid workers worldwide.