Thousands of Europe-based Iranians, including relatives of victims of repression in the Islamic republic, lawmakers and campaigners held a rally in Paris on Saturday to urge the European Union to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a “terrorist” group.
Speakers at the rally in Place Vauban in the heart of the French capital insisted that such a listing for the Guards was the biggest contribution EU ministers could make to help the protest movement that began in September.
Demonstrators chanted the protest movement’s slogan “Women. Life. Freedom” and one of its songs, “Bella Ciao”, as well as slogans against the Islamic Republic.
“The main goal is for EU ministers to finally make the Iranians’ voices heard,” said Swedish MP Alireza Akhondi on the sidelines of the rally, before delivering an impassioned speech in Farsi.
“We want the Revolutionary Guards to be labeled as a terrorist group. That is the key point,” he said, adding that he was “disappointed” with the progress so far.
Protesters urge European countries to cut economic ties with Iran over crackdown on protest movement, chanting “Your economic interests bleed our innocent youth” against a backdrop of EU, French and German flags .
The rally comes as Iran marks 44 years of the Islamic Revolution that ousted the Shah with pro-regime rallies inside the country.
– ‘proud of you’ –
Prominent French Green MP Yannick Jadot told the crowd that “there should be no European ambassador in Tehran” and that “the Revolutionary Guards are terrorists and should be listed as such”.
The Guards are the branch of the Iranian Armed Forces tasked with ensuring the security of the regime. He is accused by propagandists of rights abuses against protesters and prisoners.
Many of the protesters were blindfolded or had red make-up coming out of their eyes in reference to allegations that security forces had fired shots into the protesters’ faces.
Protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for allegedly flouting a dress code for women, have subsided over the past months, but the opposition says they still pose an unprecedented challenge to the regime.
The rally was addressed by the daughter of France-based blogger Ruhollah Zam, who was executed by Iran in 2020 after being flown from Paris to Iraq where she was abducted by Iranian security forces.
“Ruhollah Zam was the definition of the word freedom,” said Niyaz Zam, who was just 15 at the time of her father’s execution, which angered the preachers.
“We were killed for the second time but we were not scared” when Iran executed a total of four prisoners over the protests, she said, making her first public comments since her father’s execution.
Among at least a dozen people who according to the Iranian judiciary still risk the death penalty is rapper Toumaj Salehi who supported the protests and was arrested in October on charges of capital crimes.
Her cousin, who named her Shabnam, said at the rally, “There is no room for tears. You are amazing. We are all very proud of you.”
SJW/LCM
