An Iranian-British activist has vowed to continue the three-week hunger strike until the government lists Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Vahid Beheshti has eaten his last solid meal more than 24 days ago and is relying on fluids and salt supplements as he takes his stand outside the Foreign Office in London.
And last night he was visited by former Iranian hostage Nazanine Ratcliffe and her husband, Richard, who had embarked on a similar hunger strike in November 2021 at the exact same spot.
Vahid, 46, launched his protest after learning other Iranian journalists were forced to leave the UK following death threats from the IRGC.
Iran International, an independent TV network, was blamed by the Islamist regime for reporting that helped fuel nationwide protests that began last September.
Scotland Yard confirmed that more than 15 plots to kidnap or kill British journalists who were considered enemies of the state by the regime in Tehran had been thwarted. Two of the targets were Iran International journalists.
But instead of providing protection and tracking down those who made the threats, the Department of the Interior asked the network to pack up and move to the US.
“The IRGC does not only affect Iran. It works with impunity even here, in the UK. Instead of resisting, the police are telling the victims to leave and the government is looking the other way,” said 46-year-old Vahid, who is a British citizen.
“When I left Iran 24 years ago, I left a country without freedom. Iranians still have no rights.
“But the UK should be different. We should all have our nights and our freedoms and they should all be protected by the government we choose. Where is this protection now?”
His voice weakened by hunger – Vahid now subsists on a liquid diet and salt supplements – he added: “We all talk about Ukraine and Iran, but it is here, in Britain, that these rights must be fought for, and that is what I will continue to do.”
Secretary of State James Cleverly ordered Iranian chargé d’affaires Mehdi Hosseini Matin to be summoned after the Iran International incident, and sanctions were imposed on IRGC commanders.
But the FCDO continues to block calls to ban the IRGC because it is technically a state body and therefore cannot be defined as a terrorist organization – despite the fact that it carries out state-sponsored acts of terrorism.
Richard Ratcliffe, who was on hunger strike for 21 days in the same place outside the FCDO now occupied by Vahid, added: “Nazanin and I had been talking about visiting him for some time, but when Vahid passed the 21 days, we both succeeded. felt we really had to.
I remember how hard it is to camp out on that sidewalk in the cold, hungry and unsure if the government is listening. It’s no small thing he does, and it passed without comment.
I remember what it was like on the days when it felt like no one was coming to visit, like the government was just going to wait for us.
“We wanted to let him know that we see him and that we care about him. I also wanted to ask him how he coped with the cold feet, if he found a way to keep warm. That I remember was the hardest.”
He added: “I think the IRGC should be responsible for its crimes. The government’s current approach is not working. It’s at Pontius Pilate. Since Nazanin’s release, the abuse has only increased.
“This week our lawyers have applied for sanctions against Iranian hostages, including some from the IRGC, because there is such impunity at the moment.
“We are always very careful about what we say, as family is in danger, but I would say that many activists I respect are advocating for the IRGC to be banned, and the barriers needed to act have long been passed.
“It is time for the government to prioritize protection. In multiple ways. For too long it has sacrificed human rights on the altar of the nuclear deal.”