Labour Friends of Israel are urging the UK government to take tougher action on Iran following the execution of two pro-democracy protesters.
The group’s chair Steve McCabe has written to foreign secretary James Cleverly urging the UK government to expel Iran’s Chargé d’Affaires in London and to downgrade diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic.
In his letter to Cleverly, McCabe condemns Tehran’s “brutal and violent effort to suppress the legitimate protests” which began in September and in which nearly 500 people – including 68 children – have died at the hands of the security forces.
He also condemns the barbaric execution of two protesters – Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekariin – in recent days and warns that “many more” protesters are now in danger.
“As usual, the regime is deploying torture and hasty trials to judicially murder those who oppose it and intimidate other protesters,” he suggests.
McCabe welcomes the steps already taken by Britain, the US and European Union against the regime, but urges tougher action.
“It is clear that these measures are having little to no impact on the regime,” he writes.
“We must now take urgent action – targeted at all those engaged in the perpetration of violence against the Iranian people – in order to both deter and punish the regime and to show our solidarity with the protesters.”
