“We urge you to respond to this situation with the necessary decisiveness and urgency.” This is what (former) Iranian TU employees and alumni wrote this week to Rianne Letschert, the informateur who led the coalition talks, and the three party leaders who were at the table. The open letter was supported by more than three hundred citizens and was drafted in consultation with Comité Iran Vrij, writes co-initiator Nima Hakim on LinkedIn.
The initiators, including three TU employees, wanted the situation in Iran to be explicitly discussed during the coalition talks. They have not heard anything back, says co-initiator and former TU employee Sara Amiri. On Thursday, it was announced that the initiators’ first concrete demand had been granted: the EU decided to place the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on its list of terrorist organisations. That news is very welcome, says Amiri.
The initiators also want the Dutch ambassador to Iran to be recalled, the government to publicly declare that the Iranian regime will be held accountable for its actions, and the crown prince to be recognised.
Long-term approach
In the coalition agreement presented on Friday afternoon, the parties forming the coalition state that Iran’s undermining influence must be countered with maximum sanctions. A positive and necessary step, says Amiri, but not enough. “There is no long-term approach, maximising support for the Iranian people. At the moment, the focus is on sanctions and security, and too little on human rights and democracy.”
For weeks, Iran has been the scene of large-scale uprisings against the regime, fuelled by economic discontent. The demonstrators are demanding an end to the regime of the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is cracking down hard on the protests; estimates of the death toll range from 5,000 to more than 30,000. The situation continues to deteriorate, according to Amiri. “The official number of deaths and detainees continues to rise.”
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