More than 100 MPs and peers sign letter to proscribe IRGC as a terror group
More than 100 MPs and peers have signed a letter urging the Government to recognise Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a ‘terror organisation’ which is ‘openly operating’ in Britain.
The letter, signed by a cross-party alliance of 125 MPs and peers on Wednesday, claims the IRGC is now ‘openly operating’ on Britain’s shores and Prime Minister Sunak must proscribe the group as a ‘terror organisation’ as a matter of urgency.
It read: ‘The IRGC has been systematically destabilising the Middle East since the Islamic Revolution, killing thousands. This threat is no longer thousands of miles away because the IRGC is now openly operating on our shores.
‘The list of reasons for proscription are many. From active assassination plots revealed by MI5 and collection of intelligence on British-Jewish targets using UK-based criminal gangs, through its violent intimidation on journalists operating in the UK and radicalisation at British Islamic centres. The group has cruelly held British nationals as state hostages and killed many more.’
It described the Government’s decision to proscribe militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organisations as ‘important steps’ but it was now ‘incumbent to go after the parent organisation’ by ‘proscribing the IRGC’.
The letter comes after Security minister Tom Tugendhat suggested to the House of Commons there was a split around the Cabinet table on the issue.
In reply to Tory MP Bob Blackman, who was among those to urge the Government to proscribe the IRGC in February, Mr Tugendhat said: ‘He will know it’s not me he has to persuade in this matter and that there are many areas in which I would like to go.
‘I can assure him this Government is absolutely listening to exactly what he is saying. The Home Secretary and I are as one on this.’
He added: ‘The IRGC is a vicious organisation and its first victims are the Iranian people who have been brutalised and murdered by that despotic regime for far too long.’
The letter, which includes signatures from Tory MP Alicia Kearns, Michael Fabricant and Dame Diana Johnson, also expresses support for Iranian activist Vahid Beheshti, 46, who has lost 14kg and has entered the 57th day of his hunger strike urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to take action against the group.
It read: ‘Vahid has shown remarkable dignity and strength throughout his protest and has widespread support from parliamentarians who share his sense of urgency in the need to proscribe the IRGC as a terror organisation.’
Mr Beheshti, who is on the 57th day of his hunger strike outside the Foreign Office in London, welcomed the letter but said he was prepared to ‘pay the price’ for as long as it took to get a response from Mr Sunak.
He is calling on the UK to take ‘strong leadership’ against the IRGC and to recognise it as a terrorist organisation.
Mr Beheshti told MailOnline: ‘I will stay here and pay the price, whatever it is, to get this done. I won’t go anywhere.
‘We need to proscribe this terrorist organisation now and show them strong leadership because that is the only language the IRGC understands.’
The IRGC was set up over 40 years ago to defend Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution and has since exerted influence across the Middle East.
It has close ties to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was recently linked to threats against journalists at independent Iranian TV channel Iran International based in Chiswick, west London.
Scotland Yard placed armed response vehicles outside the Persian-language broadcaster’s office last year after two of its journalists were warned of a ‘credible threat’ to their lives from Iranian security forces.
The channel was forced to switch its output operation to its office in Washington DC while journalists went into hiding and worked from home.
The broadcaster is expected to reopen its new office in a new ‘fortified’ undisclosed location in Britain later this year.
Proscription makes it a criminal offence to be a member, encourage support for, or provide funds for a proscribed group.
A UK Government spokesman said: ‘While we do not comment on future designations, we will continue to take strong action against Iran while they threaten people in the UK and around the world.
‘We have sanctioned more than 300 Iranian individuals and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety.
‘In the last six months we have announced eight further packages of human rights sanctions.
‘We do not tolerate threats to life and intimidation of any kind towards individuals in the UK and will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to protect against any threats from the Iranian state.’
Source: dailymail
