Iranian journalist Vahid Beheshti went on hunger strike for 72 days, urging the UK Government to name Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. Now, the regime wants him dead.
Vahid Beheshti, an Iranian-British journalist and human rights activist, has revealed that a ‘fatwa’ calling for his death has been declared by an Iranian cleric.
The 45-year-old is currently recovering in hospital, following a 72-day hunger strike outside the UK’s Foreign Office in London. For nearly two and a half months, Vahid lived in a tent opposite the building, urging the UK Government to proscribe the republic’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.
Speaking from hospital to supporters in a video last Tuesday (May 16), Vahid said: “Not only does this not deter me from my campaign to proscribe the IRGC, I’ve become ever more determined to continue stronger.”
In April, more than 100 MPs signed a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, backing Vahid’s plea, following a string of protests in London.
However, progress has since stalled. Vahid told Punching Up that Alicia Kearns, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, told him the US government had intervened over fears proscribing the IRGC could increase tension with the Iranian government during hostage negotiations.
This week, Vahid and other campaigners have strongly criticised a decision to appoint the Islamic Republic of Iran as Chair of the UN Human Rights Council 2023 Social Forum.
Meanwhile, government forces executed three more protestors – Salehi Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi – last Friday (May 19).