A former commander of Iran’s paramilitary Basij force is running a butcher shop in northern England, a Channel 4 News investigation has revealed, as the Home Secretary designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a threat to national security.
Akbar Azimi-Rad, 42, pictured at the butcher’s shop, was a Basij commander before arriving in the UK in 2007. His asylum claim was rejected because he had been a Basij commander, but he has been allowed to stay on temporary visas because he could face persecution if sent back to Iran.
“Ex-IRGC commander runs UK butcher shop as Home Secretary bans IRGC as national security threat.”
Azimi-Rad told officials he joined the Basij at age 12, held the highest rank in his village by his early 20s, commanded 30 men, and was awarded “Basij of the year”. Between 2003 and 2004 he performed compulsory military service with the Revolutionary Guard in Tehran. Although he was not violent, he admitted handing over those “he knew would be subject to serious ill-treatment”. Judges upheld his asylum rejection because he was complicit in crimes against humanity.
Other former IRGC members living in the UK include a female former deputy governor of an Iranian prison found by UK courts to have made “a substantial contribution” to torture, and a male IRGC guard “responsible for guarding prisoners, kept naked in small dark cells and tortured”. There is no suggestion they still support the regime.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the IRGC will be designated a threat to national security under new government powers. In a written statement to Parliament, she set out how support for the IRGC — from expressing a positive opinion to assisting them — will now be an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
“Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores,” Mahmood said. “I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars.”
The prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, said: “We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets. … These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain.”
Two other groups are also being proscribed: the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), which publicly claimed responsibility for the antisemitic arson attack on four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green on March 23, and the volunteer corps of Russia’s GRU. MI5 identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots against people in the UK in the last year.
If approved by Parliament later this week, those conducting acts of sabotage including arson on behalf of these groups could face life imprisonment. Prosecutors will no longer need to establish a foreign power connection in every case.
What happens to the former IRGC members already in the UK? The ban targets support for the group, but they are not accused of any wrongdoing in this country.