An MP has spoken out against regimes in the Middle East, urging the Government to come to the aid of those who are being oppressed.

Bob Blackman, MP for Harrow East, has been a vocal critic of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and believes action should be taken against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

He suggested that it be placed on the list of proscribed organisations which support terrorism, that punitive measures be imposed against its officials and that the UK work with its allies to expel them from across the region.

He has gone on to table an Early Day Motion to “commend the bravery of the thousands of Iranian citizens who have taken to the streets in 20 cities to protest the clerical regime of Khamenei”.

In this, he criticises what he sees as the extreme violence of the IRGC’s response and the detention of thousands of innocent people in this ongoing struggle against the repressive Islamic regime.

Mr Blackman has also called on the Government to defend Hamed bin Haydara, a Yemeni Baha’i who has been sentenced to death in Sana’a.

Haydara was sentenced to public execution on January 2 for the crime of allegedly spreading the Baha’i faith.

According to Mr Blackman, he is one of many Baha’i in Yemen who have been detained in similar circumstances and his case is illustrative of the escalation of religious persecution against the Baha’i in Yemen and elsewhere.

Yemen is currently in the grip of a brutal civil war between opposing forces allegedly backed by various Middle Eastern governments.

It has resulted in the deaths of at least 5,000 civilians, while millions have been displaced and are in need of humanitarian aid.