Norouz, or Iranian New Year, is looking a little different for British Iranian activist Vahid Beheshti this year as he enters his 26th day of a hunger strike outside the Foreign Affairs Office.
Mr Beheshti is spending the festival on Monday - sometimes referred to as the Iranian equivalent of Christmas in Western culture - in a tent outside the Foreign Affairs Office in London - as he has been for the past three weeks.
He is calling on the UK Government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), “where it belongs”, on the list of terrorist organisations.
“Today is Persian New Year, Norouz, I would love to send a message to our Prime Minister,” Mr Beheshti said in a video posted to Twitter.
“I know you are a man of integrity and you have high regard for Hindu values,” he said, directed to Rishi Sunak.
“I want to ask you to...show your integrity by placing IRGC on the list of terrorist organisations, just like you promised before being elected as our prime minister.”
His demands echo British Iranian’s demands and protests globally for the past six months, as well as increasing pressure from MPs and Labour to proscribe the group.
The IRGC is a special branch of Iran’s armed forces responsible for internal and external security of Iran, which has been sanctioned by the UK.
On Monday the Government went further and sanctioned senior IRGC officials, including those who the Government said were responsible for managing the group’s financial investments.
The IRGC has been at the forefront of the repression of protest in Iran which has seen more than 500 killed and tens of thousands imprisoned, the Foreign Office said.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “Together with our partners around the world, we will continue to stand with the Iranian people as they call for fundamental change in Iran.”
Earlier this year Mr Cleverly indicated that prescribing the IRGC on the terrorist list will be implemented, however the lack of actions is raising alarms within the British Iranian community.
A UK Government spokesperson told the Standard: “Whilst the government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not comment on whether a specific organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.”
Under the Terrorism Act 2000, the Home Secretary may proscribe an organisation if they believe it is concerned in terrorism, and it is proportionate to do.
An organisation is ‘concerned in terrorism’ if: it commits or participates in; prepares for; encourages, promotes or unlawfully glorifies; or, is otherwise concerned in terrorism.
Vhid Beheshti ‘still surviving’
Mr Beheshti has lost 10kg since he began the hunger strike but told the Standard he is “still surviving”, and is “determined” to keep striking for as long as it takes for the Government to listen.
“Maybe I’ll become weaker and weaker physically as the day goes by, but internally I have become stronger and stronger and more certain and determined to continue this hunger strike untill we achieve this great goal, not just for Iranians in Iran...or the people of Middle East, [but] for the people here because today we see the hands of IRGC in the UK in London.”
While he won’t be able to eat this Norouz, his wife, family and friends plan to join him on Monday evening and celebrate. Iranians from Brighton, Coventry and other cities are also expected to join in solidarity and show “they have the same demands”.
Activist groups including United4Mahsa are planning to visit him throughout the evening as the clock turns to the new year at 9.24pm.
Mr Beheshti said this is the first Norouz he has spent “in the street”.
“For as long as I can remember, we used to sit at home with the family and celebrate Norouz, but this year it’s different.
“But I am happy, because I know the cause.”
Usually Mr Beheshti goes shopping on Norouz and then sits together with family in prayer before eating and celebrating, he told the Standard.
He said this year, however, he is fighting for basic human rights such as freedom of speech.
“We have a responsbility to defend those rights, and defend and protect those values, and I think I am doing that now.
“24 years ago when I came to this country, before that I had no rights. IRGC took those rights away.
“But when I came here and I test those rights, I have these most basic human rights, freedom and democracy, I don’t want to lose them again.”
He added: “We shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists. We shouldn’t appease them.”
Mr Beheshti told the Standard: “I am determined to continue this hunger strike until we achieve this great goal. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, and how long I’m going to be here. But I’m very determined to continue.”
Mr Vahid has received a sea of supporters and visitors during the past 26 days including the exiled prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, Nobel Prize Winner, Shirin Ebadi, former Iranian imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and comedian Omid Djalili.
Monday March 20 marks the beginning of the spring equinox and Norouz which is the most celebrated day in Persian history as well as more than twelve countries in the Middle East and Central Asia.
