Labour MPs have today pushed the government to take a firmer stance against the Iranian regime, in an Urgent Question in the House of Commons on the ongoing Mahsa Amini protests in Iran.
LFI chair Steve McCabe
In his intervention, LFI chair Steve McCabe reminded colleagues that Iran’s hardline president Raisi is a “mass murderer responsible for the deaths of between 5,000-30,000 people”. While welcoming the government’s modest sanctions in reaction to the crackdown on protestors, he urged for “appropriate action” to “make it obvious these are not people we can deal with”.
LFI vice-chair John Spellar
LFI vice-chair John Spellar took the opportunity to again push the government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which leads efforts against domestic unrest in Iran. He expressed his frustration with the government’s “Whitehall waffle”, adding that the IRGC is “crucial to the survival of this appalling, clerical fascist regime”.
Toby Perkins MP
Labour MP for Chesterfield Toby Perkins similarly pushed the government to acknowledge that the Iranian regime “isn’t just guilty of extreme brutality against its own people”, but that the regime “exports terror and supports despotic regimes and terrorist organisations in a whole raft of countries”, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen.
Shadow Middle East Minister Bambos Charalambous MP
Speaking for the Labour frontbench, Shadow Middle East Minister Bambos Charalambous set out set out Labour’s position of “solidarity with those protesting” against the “oppressive regime” in Tehran.
