Luxembourg Foreign Minister Affirms Support for Iranian People Following Criticism

Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, has responded to requests from the Iranian community that the Luxembourg Government support a European Parliament resolution calling for the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran, a sub-committee of local non-profit SIMOURQ asbl, recently announced that one Iranian activist, Amir Labbaf, a former polical prisoner who is confined to a wheelchair, had gone on a hunger (and medical treatment) strike during a demonstration held outside the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg's parliament), calling on the Luxembourg Government to make its stance on Iran clear.

The Committee noted that Luxembourg is "one of the founding members of the European community" and argued that failure to support the European Parliament resolution of 19 January 2023 on the European Union (EU) response to the protests and executions in Iran would make the country "an accomplice of the tyrants of Tehran", as well as putting at risk the safety of Iranians in Luxembourg. The Committee stated: "We ask the government for firmness. The moment is historic, after months of struggle in Iran and fierce and barbaric repression, you can no longer return to any kind of negotiation with Tehran, we have reached a point of no return."

The Committee had also voiced concerns specifically over the stance of Minister Asselborn on this subject.

Chronicle.lu reached out to the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs for comment.

On Tuesday 14 February 2023, the ministry issued a statement from Minister Asselborn, assuring that the Luxembourg Government "takes the demands of civil society and the Iranian community in Luxembourg very seriously."

The statement referred back to Minister Asselborn's comments during a foreign policy debate in November 2022, when he noted EU and Luxembourg's condemnation of "the flagrant violations of the human rights of Iranian men and women who demonstrate for their freedom, their dignity and their future." The Foreign Minister also stressed that the Grand Duchy "fully supports" EU actions in favour of the Iranian people, particularly sanctions related to human rights violations, and is "closely following" work relating to the proposal to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

The statement also noted that EU Foreign Ministers had unanimously requested an opinion from the Legal Service of the Council of the EU during their last Council meeting on 23 January 2023. "This notice must clarify the prerequisites and effects of such registration, which must be legally unassailable," the statement read. "Contrary to certain assertions, Minister Asselborn supports all the strong measures of the European Union taken in a unified way, and this in particular during the next 'Foreign Affairs' Council in Brussels, next Monday 20 February."

The statement concluded by confirming that the Foreign Ministry had invited Mr Labbaf and an Iranian delegation to a meeting on 14 February to discuss the response of Luxembourg and the EU as well as the demands of Iranian residents of the Grand Duchy.

Photo of Amir Labbaf outside the Chamber of Deputies (credit: Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran)