Admin l Sunday, March 12, 2023
BERLIN – The co-leader of Germany’s ruling Social Democrats, Lars Klingbeil, has advocate for Iranian guards to be placed on terrorists list for sentencing a young student over protest.
He called for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be placed on the European Union’s terror list.
“The Iranian Revolutionary Guards must be put on the EU terror list,” Klingbeil told Germany’s Funke media group in comments published on Sunday.
The German politician said he was deeply shocked by the sentence against Samaneh Asghari, a young engineering student for whom he had taken on a political sponsorship in January.
“The Iranian regime has sentenced [her] to 18 years and three months in prison despite absolute baseless accusations,” Klingbeil said. The courageous women in Iran who have been protesting for months have demanded nothing more than equality, a self-determined life and political freedoms, he said, calling for Asghari’s immediate release.
The IRGC are Iran’s elite armed forces. Established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the unit is supposed to prevent a coup and protect state ideology.
It has come under increasing criticism for its involvement in suppressing recent unrest in Iran, demonstrating the government’s strict rule.
The outbreak of nationwide protests in September last year were triggered by the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody, for violating Islamic dress codes.
The regime in Tehran responded by cracking down on demonstrations, including carrying out recent executions of protesters. EU lawmakers adopted a non-binding resolution in January calling for the IRGC to be put on the bloc’s terrorist list.
However, under EU law, the prerequisite for adding an organization to the list is a national decision by a competent national authority such as a court decision or a proscription order by an administrative authority, according to the EU’s external action service.
