UK politicians in show of solidarity with British-Iranian hunger striker
Vahid Beheshti's fast to demand the UK government proscribes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is backed by the All-Party Britain-Israel Parliamentary Group
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A British-Iranian on hunger strike outside the headquarters of the Foreign Office in Whitehall for 56 days who has urged the UK to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has received the support of the All-Party Britain-Israel Parliamentary Group.
A letter signed by 125 cross-party British parliamentarians, including more than a Conservative ex-cabinet ministers and senior figures from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, was sent to Rishi Sunak urging him to ban the IRGC as a terror organisation.
The group of cross-party parliamentarians – including Conservative peer Lord Polak, and Stephen Crabb MP, Labour’s Steve McCabe and the Lib Dem’s Baroness Ludford and Lord Monroe Palmer – showed solidarity with hunger striker Vahid Beheshti on Wednesday, handing him a copy of the letter sent to the PM.
Lord Polak praised Beheshti over his defiance and insistence that he “won’t eat until the proscription is done.” The Conservative Friends of Israel honorary president added:”We will be continue campaigning, and do whatever is in our power to encourage the government, the foreign office, and the prime minister to proscribe the IRGC.
“We hope for your sake, for your wife’s sake that things will happen soon and we all look forward to breaking your fast with you as soon as the proscription of the IRCG is done.”
Beheshti said: “The letter is incredible. I really thank you. I am very humble for all of the support that we get. It is not an individual act – it is group work that we all are doing and calling for proscription. This letter shows that it is not just my cause – this is the demand of many millions of people.
“Anyone who’s heart beats for humanity. This shows that persistence and determination always pays off. I will continue this hunger strike with this great support of British politicians at this very crucial moment”.
Steve McCabe, the parliamentary chair of Labour Friends of Israel, also told Jewish News: “I can’t believe the government can’t hear that MPs all across the Commons believe proscription should happen.”
He said he had “no idea” why the move against a “state sponsored terrorist army operating in this country” had not yet been enforced.
In the letter the IRGC is condemned for “systematically destabilising the Middle East” and the British parliamentarians warn that the “threat is no longer thousands of miles away because the IRGC is now openly operating on our own shores”.
It identifies a “growing list of activities” the IRGC has carried out in the UK which “will be of grave concern to many across our country”.
The letter welcomes comments in December 2022 made by Prime Minister Sunak at Conservative Friends of Israel’s Annual Business Lunch that he and his Home Secretary Suella Braverman would “utilise the full range of tools” at their disposal to combat the IRGC.
Last week, 130 Democrat and Republican members of the U.S. Congress wrote to the European Union expressing their “disappointment” at its “hesitation” to proscribe the IRGC.
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