Fmr. Dutch PM Balkenende joins call to put Iranian Revolutionary Guard on terrorism list

Over 100 prominent politicians, including former Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, have signed a letter calling the European Union to put the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) on its terrorism list. The letter was drawn up by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which presents itself as Iranian opposition abroad. It was signed by former Prime Ministers, Presidents, and other politicians, NOS reports.

The letter, addressed to the European Union, United States President Joe Biden, the United Kingdom, and Canada, calls for solidarity with the Iranian people and a tougher approach against the IRGC. This elite corps is more powerful than the Iranian army and has regularly cracked down on protests in recent months. The signatories accuse the international community of “decades of silence that have fueled a culture of impunity.”

Other signatories include former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, and former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. Former presidents Jean-Claude Juncker and Romano Prodi of the European Commission also signed, as did three Nobel Prize winners, former president Manual Santos of Colombia, Costa Rican activist Óscar Arias Sánchez, and Polish trade union leader Lech Walesa.

In January, the European Parliament passed a resolution to put the IRGC on the terrorism list. But the EU foreign affairs coordinator, Josep Borrel, said it was impossible without the intervention of a court from one of the member states, according to NOS. At the time, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said the Netherlands would have liked to put the IRGC on the terrorism list. But he considered it unlikely that a Dutch court would rule to do so.

Large-scale protests broke out in Iran in September last year after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini. She died in police custody after the authorities arrested her for not wearing her headscarf correctly. In recent months, there have been regular reports of executions by the regime.