Swedish PM urges EU to list Iran's IRGC as terrorist organization
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Sunday called on the European Union to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Sunday called on the European Union to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
The Swedish prime minister's remarks came shortly after reports that Tehran had enlisted criminals to carry out armed attacks on Israeli embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen.
"We want Sweden to seriously address with the other EU countries the incredibly problematic connection between the IRGC, their destructive role in the region, but also their escalating actions around various European countries, of which Sweden is one of them," said Kristersson.
"The only reasonable consequence is that we get a common terror classification, so that you can act more broadly than the sanctions that already exist," he added, according to a report by Expressen.
In May 2023, the Swedish Parliament voted in favor of designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. It followed the execution of Swedish-Iranian Habib Chaab (Asyud).
Later in January 2024, the European Parliament called on the EU to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity, blaming it for the harsh repression of domestic protests and the supply of drones to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said on Jan. 23 before a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels that there are legal reasons why the EU can't list the organization as a terror entity. "It is something that cannot be decided without a court, a court decision first."
However, a report commissioned by the Hague Initiative refuted the EU foreign policy chief's argument for not listing the IRGC on the EU's terror list, saying the argument that the EU cannot list the IRGC as terrorists until an EU court has determined that they are is baseless.
In late June, the German Press Agency (DPA) quoted diplomats as saying that “multiple EU countries including Germany are pushing to classify the IRGC as a terrorist organization on the basis of a German court ruling.”
The German legal ruling earlier this year is from the High Court in the city of Düsseldorf, stating that a 2022 attack on a synagogue in the city of Bochum was traced to the “Iranian state authorities.”
A senior EU official told the Wall Street Journal on October 4 that the European Union's legal services have said the Dusseldorf decision is grounds enough for a potential IRGC terror listing and that the decision on this is now a political one.
The case, which involves allegations of stealing valuable items from homes in northern Tehran, has been referred to the Tehran Provincial Criminal Court, according to a Sunday report by the state-run Iran newspaper.
“As the number of plaintiffs in this theft ring reached 46, police reviewed surveillance footage from around the crime scenes. They discovered that the members of this gang entered homes in groups of four or five,” wrote Iran.
The defendants face charges of stealing gold, jewelry, US dollars, and luxury carpets, with the stolen goods valued at about five hundred billion rials ($800,000). The suspects were identified through police investigations and surveillance footage and arrested shortly after the thefts, which began in the summer of 2022.
The punishment, as described in the indictment by Branch Five of Tehran’s Special Theft Prosecutor’s Office, is rooted in the “hadd” law under Iran's Islamic Penal Code. This law prescribes harsh penalties for theft, including amputation, based on Islamic jurisprudence.
The first offense guidelines mandate the amputation of four fingers from the right hand. For repeat offenders, harsher punishments follow: the second theft results in the amputation of the left foot, the third leads to life imprisonment, and the fourth can result in execution.
The sentencing has drawn attention, particularly from international human rights groups. Pegah Bani Hashemi, a senior legal researcher at the University of Chicago, commented on the severity of the punishments in an interview with Iran International, stating: “While countless embezzlements happen in Iran and the individuals involved often spend just a few years in prison, how can it be acceptable that someone stealing minor items faces amputation?"
Bani Hashemi also highlighted that such punishments go against international human rights conventions, noting, “All punishments that involve torture, including amputation, are considered illegal under international law. This has no place in modern justice systems.”
The practice of amputation as punishment in Iran continues despite mounting criticism from the United Nations, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations. In July, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights organization reported that four prisoners at Urmia Central Prison were at risk of amputation for theft. The group has documented similar cases, including a man who had his fingers amputated in February for stealing five sheep.
Iranian civil society organizations report that between January 1, 2000, and September 24, 2020, at least 237 individuals, primarily from impoverished backgrounds, have received amputation sentences in Iran, with at least 129 of those sentences being carried out.
The continued implementation of amputation sentences in Iran occurs despite the country being a member of the United Nations and having signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
According to Article 7 of this covenant, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”