The N-VA asks Chamber to condemn violence in Iran

Over the past week, Iranian women as well as men overwhelmingly seized upon the abuse and death of Mahsa Amini to express their resentment of the Ayatollahs’ repressive regime. The response of Iranian security and police forces to the demonstrations was, as usual, disproportionate and bloody. “These brutal attacks against the right to peaceful protest even violate international agreements and treaties that Iran itself has agreed to,” explain group chairman Peter De Roover and MP Darya Safai. “To stop this violence, it is important that the West sends a clear signal to Iran. We are asking the Belgian federal government to join that resistance as soon as possible.”

Every day, images reach us of the blatant and disproportionate use of force against nonviolent and unarmed protesters. “These people are dying because they protested the daily oppression and humiliation they have to endure. We must not ignore that,” says MP Darya Safai, who speaks from her own experience. The N-VA MPs are therefore requesting that Belgium join the call from Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic to introduce additional sanctions against individuals and institutions that are complicit in this escalation of violence.

Explicitly condemn excessive violence

“The MPs submitted a proposal for a resolution asking, on the one hand, to explicitly condemn the excessive violence used by the Iranian government against its population and, on the other, to respect the internationally recognised rules, which the Islamic Republic of Iran had previously recognised, on the non-use of systemic violence, which Iran is now using against women and protesters.

The Assadi case

“Minister Hadja Lahbib (MR) recently met with her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and thus has a direct line to the regime to convey these demands,” De Roover explains. De Roover and Safai hope the Assadi case does not play a role and does not explain why the Belgian government is reacting so cautiously to events in Iran. “I am counting on all colleagues, including those in the majority parties, to support our proposal for a resolution in parliament so that there can be no ambiguity about the position of our parliament.”