On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, dozens of Iranians rallied outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calling Belgian authorities to designate IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) as a terrorist organization. Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the main democratic opposition movement to Iran’s dictatorship, urge Belgium to take a firm policy towards the Iranian regime that is the correct approach to support Iranian protesters who have been in the streets for almost five months, after the tragic death of the Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian girl by the morality police.
“Place the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC, Khamenei’s main suppressive forces, on the EU and UN terrorist lists. #BlacklistIRGC” tweeted Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, IRGC has played a significant role in the internal suppression of anti-regime protests and killing thousands of Iranian dissidents. On the other hand, IRGC actively conducted/supported hundreds of terrorist attacks in the region and worldwide. IRGC has already been designated in the US foreign terrorist organizations list, FTO, during the previous administration.
On Monday, thousands of Iranians rallied in Strasbourg in front of the European Parliament, calling for Europe to Blacklist IRGC. Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament, joined the rally of Iranians in Strasbourg and confirmed that Europe calls for a more forceful response to the terror unleashed by the regime of Iran.
The demonstrators in front of the ministry of foreign affairs tributed Mohsen Shekari, the first Iranian protester the Iranian regime executed. On the 40th day after his execution. According to the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI), more than 30,000 protesters were arrested during the protests, and dozens were convicted to execution. Until today, the Iranian regime’s judiciary has executed four protesters. These atrocities raised a wave of outrage inside the country; Iranians gathered in front of prisons and risked their lives to save the prisoners on death row.