Maryam Rajavi extends her sympathies to Vandecasteele family in Belgium

• I wish the religious fascism ruling Iran would stop taking hostages, but in the last 43 years, for every hostage who is exchanged or freed with incentives, the regime has taken or killed at least two new hostages. If this fact is not true, the regime ruling Iran can immediately make a written and official commitment to the United Nations that it will release Mr. Vandecasteele and all the hostages today and will no longer take anyone hostage from any country .

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), condemned the hostage-taking of foreign nationals by the religious fascism ruling Iran and the inhumane pressures on them, especially on Mr. Olivier Vandecasteele. While sympathizing with the Vandecasteele family, she demanded the immediate release of all hostages.

Since the beginning of the mullahs’ rule, terrorism, and taking hostage foreign nationals has been a tool for advancing their foreign policy. The NCRI and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) have exposed this policy repeatedly.

Appeasement of, and concessions to, the Iranian regime to release hostages has emboldened this regime to continue the heinous business of extortion and hostage taking. Only a decisive policy against this regime will end the inhuman policy of hostage-taking. Otherwise, the experience of taking hostage French nationals in Lebanon in the 1980s clearly shows that in the last 43 years, for every hostage exchanged or freed in return for incentives, the regime has taken hostage or killed at least two new victims.

Mrs. Rajavi pointed out that if this fact is not true, the regime ruling Iran can immediately make an official and written commitment to the United Nations that it will release Mr. Vandecasteele and all the hostages today and will no longer take anyone hostage from any country.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 12, 2022