(Harrow East) (Con): Today is the 64th day that
Vahid Beheshti is on hunger strike opposite the Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office. Last week, together with 125
other Members of both Houses, I wrote to the Prime Minister about
the hunger strike. The letter was copied to the Foreign Secretary
and the Home Secretary, and drew attention to the plight of the
poor people in Iran, and the need to proscribe the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety. I am
pleased that Mr Beheshti had a meeting with Lord Ahmad and the
Security Minister relatively recently, but there is still no
action from the Government. Can we have a debate in Government
time on what measures we will take to proscribe the
IRGC in its entirety? Let us have a vote on
that, so that the Government can support it and then make it
actuality.
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important point. We are
all extremely worried about the fact that Mr Beheshti is on the
64th day of his hunger strike. I visited him much earlier, in the
first month of his strike. He is doing this not just because of
the situation in Iran, I think, but also because of the situation
that we increasingly face in the UK, with people being
intimidated, threatened or worse by the regime and its proxies. I
hope that he will soon bring the hunger strike to an end, but I
understand why he is doing it. I am glad that Ministers have met
him. The hon. Gentleman may wish to raise the matter again with
the Foreign Secretary on 2 May.
