Minister says UK actively considering prosecuting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
LONDON: Britain is actively considering formally declaring that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is a terrorist organisation, but no final decision has been made, UK Foreign Office Secretary Leo Docherty told parliament on Thursday.
“It would be wrong for me to speculate about the outcome of the government’s current view on this issue, which is active,” Docherty said during a debate on the Iran situation, during which some MPs called for impeachment.
“But I can say that I think the calls to the full House, and the unity with which these calls are being made from all sides, will be noted by the government, and it is something we take extremely seriously.”
Banning Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group would mean belonging to the group, attending its meetings and wearing its logo in public would become a criminal offense in the UK.
Iranian-Irish national Amir Sefi, a supporter of Iran’s National Resistance Council, was among those who demonstrated outside Britain’s parliament on Thursday.
Sefi told Arab News: “It is important to show them that the Iranian people support what they are doing and that they stand in solidarity with the people in Iran.”
The 42-year-old said the IRGC, from both an economic and military perspective, is the main force of the regime and its violence against protesters, and that banning it would effectively “cripple” the regime.
“This is a regime that is trying to strike fear into the hearts of protesters and the Iranian people,” Saifi said.
He said the organization is aware of the growing international threat against it, making it more difficult for it to violently suppress protests and gain access to arms and equipment from the international community.
Sefi said, “The issue of banning the IRGC is something we have been opposing for so many years, but today there was overwhelming support for it cross parties.”
He added: “The regime’s behaviour, brutal repression against protesters, as well as its interference in other countries’ affairs and export of terrorism to other countries, especially in the Middle East, were also condemned.
“Several MPs called for the regime to close the embassy and expel its diplomats.
“Finally, a resolution was introduced that was passed unanimously, condemning the regime’s actions, the brutal repression of protesters, and supporting the right of Iranian protesters.”
The IRGC is already subject to British sanctions.