Conservative parliamentarians sent video messages of support to Vahid Beheshti during a rally last weekend which marked the 66th day of his hunger strike as he continues to urge the UK Government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in its entirety.
MPs echoed his calls in Parliament this week during a question session with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
Mr Beheshti was joined by thousands of protesters outside Downing Street on Saturday.
In a video, CFI Honorary President Lord Polak CBE stressed that the IRGC are “are a malign influence, and it is incumbent that the Government here proscribes them, in full, and as soon as possible”. He thanked Mr Beheshti for leading and asked him to keep well for his wife and to not “allow a victory to the IRGC”.
CFI Officer Bob Blackman MP also thanked Mr Beheshti and wished him “all the best”, asking him to “please safeguard [his] health and be well”. The MP urged the Government to not tolerate “what is indefensible”, and proscribe the IRGC and “sequestrate their assets” in hope “we will see freedom and democracy return to Iran”. In Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Blackman praised Mr Beheshti for raising awareness about the IRGC’s “malign activities” and “threat to UK citizens”.
In a further message, Rt. Hon. Dr Liam Fox MP labelled the IRGC a “brutal and ruthless force that keeps the world’s most dangerous theocracy in power”. He said that the IRGC “have almost certainly been behind the provision of drones to Russia which have been used to commit war crimes against the Ukrainian people”, a concern also raised by Chris Clarkson MP in Parliament who condemned the IRGC’s “complicity in international aggression.
CFI Officer Nicola Richards joined MPs raising the issue in Parliament, urging the Foreign Secretary to “acknowledge the sense of urgency that so many parliamentarians have about the IRGC’s proscription, which would improve and protect lives both in Iran and here in Britain”.
