The Foreign Minister of Belgium, Hadja Lahbib, is in the eye of the political storm in the European country and there are increasing calls for her resignation from the government. This, after it became clear that contrary to the opinion of the professional echelon at the Foreign Ministry, she approved the granting of a visa to an Iranian delegation headed by Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran. Zakani, known as "the butcher from Tehran" received a visa to attend a conference of mayors in Belgium.
Lahbib, a former journalist of Algerian origin, is considered very hostile to Israel. Just last week, she was accused by a Jewish member of the Belgian Parliament, Michael Freilich, of allowing the money-laundering scheme of Hezbollah to continue within Belgium.
Darya Safai (N-VA): "Hadja Lahbib must resign".
ā Darya Safai MP (@SafaiDarya) June 20, 2023
For the Belgian-Iranian MP Darya Safai, who revealed the Tehran mayor affair, Hadja Lahbib should take her responsibilities and resign.#IranGate @lesoir pic.twitter.com/Y4bsvYUq2j
About a month ago, Iran and Belgium held a prisoner exchange deal in which Belgium released an Iranian citizen convicted in Belgium of involvement in terrorism, in exchange for the release of a Belgian aid worker who worked in Tehran and was imprisoned more than a year ago on charges of espionage. The transaction encountered many difficulties due to the opposition of the Belgian Constitutional Court. The deal sparked a lot of criticism in Belgium.
However, the real storm began when it became clear that the mayor of Tehran was invited to a conference of mayors organized by the Brussels district. Zakani was a senior member of the Basij, a militia subordinate to the Revolutionary Guards, and was at the head of the forces that forcibly suppressed the hijab protest in Iran. His invitation caused an uproar in Belgium and caused the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Brussels region, Pascal Smet, to resign after inviting Zakani.
Sen. Vanlouwe calls for the resignation of Belgium's Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib: 'We are afraid of humiliating the Iranian regime... this is unacceptable that we invite fundamentalist Islamist mayor's of Tehran who have different values than we have' pic.twitter.com/eIwQeqTTNF
ā i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) June 22, 2023
At the same time, the foreign minister was sharply criticized for giving Zakani and a delegation of 15 visas. At first, she claimed that it was the responsibility of the Brussels district and that the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs approved the visas through a technical procedure and apparently there was no obstacle.
Thank you @MichaelFreilich for calling out the Hezbollah money-laundering scheme taking place in Belgium!@hadjalahbib https://t.co/FFDGhORs8U
ā The Judean (@TheJudean) June 21, 2023
However, internal e-mail correspondences were quickly revealed in the Belgian media which proved that the professional echelon in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opposed the invitation of the mayor of Tehran and claimed that it was not the time considering all the circumstances. But then Smet talked to Lahbib in regard to his suggestion to give visas to the delegation. The storm grew even more after some of the members of the delegation turned out to be Iranian intelligence officers who photographed the opposition members who demonstrated against the mayor of Tehran in the streets of Brussels.
