Open letter asks De Wever to scrap Reza Pahlavi's talk at the Royal Military Academy

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah of Iran who was ousted in 1979, is due to give a lecture on the Middle East at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels on 6 November, at the invitation of Defence Minister Theo Francken (N-VA). Francken announced the visit on 17 October and said he would host Pahlavi for a working breakfast. Some thirty public figures are now calling on Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) in an open letter to cancel the official programme, La Libre reports. The letter was drawn up under the lead of minister of state Gérard Deprez (MR), according to Belga via La DH. De Tijd reports that around fifty organisations are also calling for the event to be cancelled.

The signatories include Louis Michel (MR), André Flahaut (PS), Pierre Galand (PS), Sven Gatz (Anders), Alain Top (Vooruit), Rajae Maouane (Ecolo), Jonathan de Patoul (DéFI) and Alain Deneef (Les Engagés), alongside human rights organisations and professors of international relations. In their view, the invitation can hardly be seen as politically neutral and gives the impression that the government backs Pahlavi as a future representative of Iran, while the Iranian opposition is deeply divided. They recall that the shah's regime abolished political pluralism and persecuted opponents through the Savak secret service, and criticise Pahlavi for never distancing himself from that legacy.

The issue is also sensitive within the majority. MR earlier proposed inviting Pahlavi to the Chamber, but Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés) gave a cautious opinion, arguing that Belgium remains neutral towards the various strands of the Iranian opposition. For lack of consensus among the parliamentary groups, that proposal was shelved, La Libre writes. MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez, who met Pahlavi in Paris in July, does intend to receive him privately.