Corbyn’s MPS urge him to break silence on Iran killings

JEREMY CORBYN has failed to condemn the persecution of protesters by the Iranian regime because he accepted money from a broadcaster owned by the state, a senior Labour MP has suggested.

Mr Corbyn is under increasing pressure to speak out over unrest in the country with at least 21 people killed in the past week during anti-regime protests against rising costs and corruption.

The Labour leader’s silence has prompted accusations from his own backbenchers that he is turning a “blind eye” to abuses in the country.

It came as Mr Corbyn also faced criticism after pictures emerged of him apparently on an extended Christmas holiday in Mexico.

Mr Corbyn has previously been paid up to £20,000 for hosting a series of programmes for the Iranian stateowned Press TV. He has said he used the appearances to talk about human rights issues.

One senior Labour MP suggested that accepting the payment made it difficult for Mr Corbyn to criticise Tehran. The MP said: “He does all this high- minded principles thing – he does it with Russia too – but he is selective in terms of the way he interprets these things.

“The way the whole operation at the top of the party works is they turn a blind eye to persecution of people in regimes which stand up to America, that’s the way it is, and he is on particularly weak ground after accepting that money. There are many examples of this – this isn’t the first.”

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, has called for Iranian authorities to show restraint in their response to the protests.

A Labour source said Mr Corbyn agreed with Ms Thornberry’s statement in which she said events in Iran were “highly uncertain” and that politicians should be “cautious”.

Wes Streeting, a Labour MP, called on Mr Corbyn to publicly condemn the violence in Iran. He said: “I think we should be sending a clear message of support and solidarity to protesters in Iran and given where Jeremy hails from in terms of debates about Iran I think his voice is likely to carry more weight on this issue than other world leaders.

“We know the Iranian regime is an appalling regime whether through its actions of repression and violence against its own citizens including women and gay people, we also know that Iran is engaged in proxy wars across the region, fuelling instability and the current protests we are seeing by those pushing for greater democracy and freedom is surely a movement we should support.”

One Twitter user posted a picture on Christmas Day of Mr Corbyn which claimed he was travelling to Mexico. Another picture of Mr Corbyn posted on Wednesday, apparently showed him still in Mexico.

The Labour leader has used his Twitter account to attack the Government’s response to the NHS winter crisis in recent days.