‘I’ve lost 8.5 kilos but I’m determined to continue’: Hunger striker protests Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

A man on his 20th day of hunger strike said he will continue his protest until a hard-line Islamic group in Iran is added to a list of International Terrorist Organisations by the UK Government

Vahid Beheshti, 46, who used to live in Camberwell but now lives in Coventry, is a journalist and human rights activist. He has taken his protest outside the Foreign Affairs Office on King Charles Street, Whitehall.

Mr Beheshti is also calling on the UK Government to make it a criminal offence to become a member of or support the actions of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The hunger striker said: “I have one coffee in the morning, some salt, a couple of cubes of brown sugar and plenty of water.

“I have lost 8.5 kilos but I am determined to continue.”

The IRGC gained the attention of the world in recent months due to its brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran, led by women fighting for their human rights.

In December 2020, the IRGC kidnapped and executed Mr Beheshti’s close friend, Rouhollah Zam, accusing him of using a messaging app to stir up dissent.

The UK government was preparing to formally declare the IRGC as a terrorist organisation in 2022, following reports of an Iranian hit squad targeting British-Iranian journalists in London.

Then in January 2023, during a debate led by Conservative MP Bob Blackman, MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of proscribing the IRGC.

Mr Beheshti said: “I decided to start this hunger strike because I felt like just talking and having conversation was not enough any more.

“I was in talks with MPs, and most of them, cross party, were agreeing with this.

“Then, suddenly, five weeks ago I felt the process slow down and MPs started saying ‘we don’t know’.”

Mr Beheshti lived in both Camberwell and Stockwell before he moved to Coventry.

His wife, Conservative Coventry councillor Mattie Heaven, was against the idea of his Hunger Strike at first but is now standing firmly behind him.

She said: ‘Naturally I was concerned for his health at first, but given the urgency of the situation it does feel we are left with no choice.

Since Mr Beheshti started his hunger strike, Ms Heaven has ramped up her efforts, desperate for people in the UK to understand the gravity of the situation.

She said: “Factually speaking the IRGC ticks every box on the UK Government’s criteria for recognising it as a terrorist organisation, so there is no justification for any delay.”

The IRGC was set up 40 years ago to defend the country’s Islamic system, and to provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces.

It has since become a major military, political and economic force in Iran.

Vahid said: “24 years ago when I lived in Iran I didn’t have my human rights.

“They were taken from me by the regime.

“As someone who has been stripped of his most basic rights I understand the value of freedom and democracy that I have here in the UK and I want to defend it.”

Pictured top: Vahid Beheshti on hunger strike outside the Home Office (Picture: David Sladek)