The Australian government has been accused of hiding the true threat posed by Iran's IRGC as it denies documents as to the truth behind the u-turn to proscribe the world's most dangerous state-backed terror group.
Sydney-based Iranian Arash Behgoo has been denied access to government records after lodging a Freedom of Information request with the Attorney-General’s Department in June last year, seeking explanation as to why the IRGC was not banned under a motion in January last year when lawmakers were extremely close to proscribing the group, per Iran International in a report today.
The country's Senate claimed at the time that “as an organ of a nation state, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not the kind of entity that is covered by the terrorist organisation provisions in the Criminal Code.” It also claimed that the IRGC could not be listed for legislative reasons because of its status as an organ of the nation state.
Iran International added that initially, in August, Behgoo’s request was denied on grounds of “national security, defence or international relations”, a common obstacle to understanding the mechanics of issues such as designation amid the extreme complexities of geopolitics.
However, Behgoo said Australians deserved to know the threat they were facing. “Many of my fellow Australians may not know about this organization and it’s my duty, for the sake of our national security, to talk about the risk that I know of,” he said.
“I consider it my duty to my home to talk about it and to inform others that without a listing under the Criminal Code, the agents of the IRGC can roam freely in Australia and pretty much do whatever they want and they wouldn’t be committing criminal offences.”
The Iranian who moved to Sydney with his family five years ago, says he is now considering appealing the decision. “It is not just a bunch of fanatics who have wild ideas – they do things and you can see it all over the world,” Behgoo told Sky News.
“You can ignore them, but they won’t ignore you. We can and we must list them on our Criminal Code and make sure that we do a great job of enforcing our law because those who neglected this risk, you can see what has become of them.”
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General's department told Sky News that it has been long-standing practice that "the department does not comment on whether an organisation is being, or has been, considered for listing as a terrorist organisation."