Iranian Hunger Striker Calls For Protest Rally To Proscribe IRGC

An Iranian activist who has been on hunger strike since February has called for a rally urging the UK to brand the IRGC as terrorists.

Vahid Beheshti has urged followers to join the protest in London on April 29.

That date will be the 65th day of his hunger strike, which began on February 23. Beheshti has been outside the UK Foreign Office since then calling for the British government to designate the IRGC a terrorist organization.

He said the 65 days will equal the hunger strike of Bobby Sands, a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, before his death in 1981.

Beheshti hopes that Iranians turn out for the London rally in similarly large numbers to those for the epic protest in Berlin on October 22, 2022.

Beheshti has been battling the bitter winter outside the UK Foreign Office to raise awareness for the need to proscribe the IRGC which is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Iranian citizens since September. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his cabinet have not yet reacted to his hunger strike.

On Wednesday, April 19, Beheshti entered the 55th day of his hunger strike while he is forced to sit on a wheelchair due to his physical weakness.

Political figures, human rights activists and artists have visited Beheshti while he maintains his vigil and paid tribute to his resistance, but also urged him to end his hunger strike.

A number of other Iranians have also joined his protest action in the past weeks and have set up their tents for a sit-in in front of the UK Foreign Office building.

In an interview with Iran International, Beheshti called his hunger strike a protest action, but not one intended to harm himself.