Massive Rally In Brussels Calls For Designating IRGC As Terror Group

Massive Rally In Brussels Calls For Designating IRGC As Terror Group

Iran International

Feb 20th 2023

An estimated crowd of more than 20,000 held a rally in Brussels to call on EU countries to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

A diverse group of figures delivered speeches in the Belgian capital condemning the Islamic Republic and its multifunctional armed force, the IRGC, expressing solidarity with the dissidents in Iran who have been out on streets since September protesting for the fall of the clerical regime.

Alireza Akhondi and Darya Safai, two representatives of Iranian origin in the parliaments of Sweden and Belgium were among the original organizers of the rally, meant to push the EU for the inclusion of the IRGC in the list of terrorist organizations in the European Union.

During the demonstration – accompanied by musical and theatrical performances, women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad called for unity among Iranian opposition figures, a demand which has been echoed repeatedly by prominent activists since a historic forum in Washington earlier this month by eight prominent dissident activists heralded a united front.

Alinejad said, “The secret of our victory is our unity. We are scarred by the same regime for years… We will not win if we do not hold each other’s hands.”

Canada-based activist leader Hamed Esmaeilion, whose daughter and wife were killed by the IRGC in the shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner in 2020, said that the Revolutionary Guard was established to defend the Islamic Revolution and not the Iranian people. “There is still no mention of Iran in the name of this institution,” he noted. “After the war with Iraq, the Revolutionary Guard became an economic and security monster, and today it is the most important instrument to suppress the people of Iran,” he added.

“In future Iran, there’ll be no IRGC. Army will protect the country’s territorial integrity. Military won’t interfere in politics. And the economy will be controlled by experts instead of eulogists in uniform,” he said.

Former US President George W. Bush, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi, member of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium Theo Francken, Former Assistant to the US President for National Security Affairs John Bolton, Executive Director of United Nations Watch Hillel Neuer, Member of the European Parliament Abir Al-Sahlan, and member of the Hamburg city parliament Danial Ilkhanipour delivered speeches or sent messages for the Brussels rally.