{"id":689497,"date":"2026-01-11T19:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/689497\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T19:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:17:11","slug":"iranian-scientist-in-glasgow-calls-on-government-to-back-protestors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/689497\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian scientist in Glasgow calls on government to back protestors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Dr Arash Badakhsh of the University of Strathclyde has been<\/a> unable to contact his family in Iran, something which has caused the award-winning researcher significant distress.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Badakhsh told The Herald: \u201cThe blackout has caused extreme anxiety and a profound sense of helplessness.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Not just for me personally, but for the innocent people inside Iran who are fighting a brutal regime with nothing but their courage.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Arash Badakhsh has spoken out against the ongoing protests. (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI have had no contact with my family for over 60 hours \u2014 no internet, no landlines, nothing. I don\u2019t know if they are safe, where they are, or if they are even alive. That silence is unbearable. It is exactly what the regime wants: to isolate, terrify, and kill without witnesses.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cFrom lived experience, this is a system built on cruelty and fear, capable of acts that are hard to comprehend unless you have lived under it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Badakhsh, who moved to Glasgow in 2022, earned a PhD at Jeonbuk National University in South Korea after leaving Iran at the age of 23.\n<\/p>\n

\n The entrepreneur, who went on to found a climate-tech company in the UK, added: \u201cI chose this country because of its stated commitment to human rights, rule of law, and freedom. That is why this moment matters so deeply to me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n In response to the recent wave of protests, which began in response to the regime\u2019s financial woes, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, Iran\u2019s attorney general, has said that demonstrators would be treated \u201cwithout leniency, mercy or appeasement,\u201d according to Iranian media.\n<\/p>\n

\n Azad added that \u201call criminals involved\u201d would be considered an \u201cenemy of God,\u201d a charge which could result in death.\n<\/p>\n

\n Data compiled by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) revealed that the death toll had risen to 538, although more are feared dead.\n<\/p>\n

\n Protestors have called for the UK Government to proscribe the IRGC. (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n

\n Badakhsh noted: \u201cThere are approximately 114,000 Iranian-born residents in the UK \u2014 roughly the population of a city like Cheltenham. These are people who contribute to British society, economy, science, healthcare, and culture, and who are now watching their families be hunted in silence.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe UK\u2019s values matter not only globally, but to its own communities at home.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n There have been calls for the government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps<\/a>, Iran\u2019s armed forces, as a terrorist organisation\n<\/p>\n

\n Asked about the possibility of banning the organisation, Transport<\/a> Secretary Heidi Alexander told Sky News:\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very thorough process that the Home Secretary [Shabana Mahmood] would go through in determining whether to proscribe an organisation\u2026 I\u2019m not going to second-guess the decisions of the Home Secretary on a matter as significant as this.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cShe will follow due process and won\u2019t leave any stone unturned in looking at all the information that is available to her.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n Similarly, Badakhsh said the UK Government<\/a> must do \u201cmore than issue statements\u201d as protestors continue to take to the streets\n<\/p>\n

\n He said: \u201cIf the UK\u2019s commitment to human rights is meaningful, it should lead coordinated international action to protect protesters, apply maximum pressure on the regime, and ensure accountability for those ordering and carrying out violence. Silence or hesitation only emboldens further killings.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is deeply troubling that I have had to repeatedly email my elected representatives simply to ask for help.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen a government shuts down all communication \u2014 internet and landlines alike \u2014 it is not for security. It is to kill in silence. Anything less than calling that out is hypocrisy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Arash Badakhsh of the University of Strathclyde has been unable to contact his family in Iran, something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-689497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115878077542732250","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}