The National Assembly of France on Wednesday passed a resolution calling on the French government, as well as the European Union, to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
The resolution was introduced by MP Constance Le Grip, from the governing Renaissance Party. In her speech, Le Grip emphasized “the central role of the IRGC in the repression carried out by the regime against the Women Life Freedom Movement and against all oppositions.”
She noted that the IRGC “controls two-thirds of the Iranian economy” and “guides, supports and funds terrorist organizations both within the country and elsewhere in the region.”
Le Grip called the IRGC “the backbone of the Iranian regime in terms of security, repression, ideology and finance.”
French lawmakers also declared their unconditional support for the Iranian protest movement, affirming that women worldwide have the right to control their bodies, including freedom from forced dress codes. The resolution urges Iranian authorities to end compulsory hijab laws and immediately release all detainees arrested for protesting against or violating these mandates.
The resolution urged Iranian authorities to halt the use of the death penalty and to release all individuals arbitrarily arrested and detained for participating in protests, defying compulsory hijab regulations, or opposing these mandates, immediately and unconditionally.
It also called on Iran’s regime to compensate victims of the September 2022 protest crackdown and their families, and to cooperate with international fact-finding missions.
The resolution reaffirmed documented evidence of the IRGC and Iranian Basij forces’ involvement in serious human rights violations.
The resolution reads: “Considering the involvement of various branches of the state security forces, both uniformed and plainclothes, in particular that of members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Basij militia, the morality police and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command and its special forces;
Calls on France and the European Union to include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its subsidiary forces, such as the Basij militia and the Al Quds force, on the list of terrorist organizations.’’
The French Parliament further requested that the French government continue its efforts at the European level to hold Iranian officials accountable in international courts and to expand sanctions against Iranian leaders responsible for widespread and systematic violations of women’s and girls’ rights in Iran.
