Brussels cancel culture mayor who tried to stop Nigel Farage and Suella ... trends now
The Brussels mayor who tried to block a right-wing conference attended by Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman on Tuesday once hosted an Iranian politician since sanctioned by the UK and implicated in 'rights violations or abuses' in Iran.
Mayor Philippe Close, who pressured a venue in Belgium not to host the National Conservatism Conference on Tuesday, last June welcomed Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani to the Brussels Urban Summit alongside a number of global counterparts.
Despite joining in efforts to push back on the conservative event in Belgium, Close at the time championed the congress focusing on 'sustainable development and social inclusion' alongside the standing mayor of the Iranian capital.
The event caused controversy in Belgium and prompted the resignation of Brussels' foreign affairs minister, Pascal Smet, who admitted it was a mistake to invite Zakani along with 14 Iranian officials and two Russians - put up in hotel rooms at Belgium's expense.
Zakani, an ultra-conservative within Iran, was soon after placed on the UK's sanctions list, 'because he is and has been involved in the commission of serious human rights violations or abuses in Iran'.
Close was nonetheless among several who attempted to stop the National Conservatism Conference from going ahead yesterday, as police officers told organisers authorities were intervening due to the 'possibility of public disorder'.
A top Belgian court ultimately ruled overnight that attempts to shut down the event were in violation the country's constitutional right to peaceful assembly, allowing it to go ahead on its second day.
Nigel Farage arrives on the second day of the National Conservatism Conference, April 17
Brussels mayor Philippe Close delivers a speech in Brussels on December 20, 2023
Alireza Zakani, mayor of the Iranian capital of Tehran, is pictured during an interview with Xinhua in Tehran, Iran, October 15, 2023
Zakani was among 162 individuals named in a financial sanctions document published by HM Treasury in December, alongside various politicians accused of complicity or involvement in torture, violations of human rights and abuse.
The Tehran mayor was himself accused of 'being responsible for, engaging in and promoting serious violations of the right to freedom of expression, as well as breaches of Iran's obligation to secure the human rights of persons in Iran without discrimination including on the basis of a person's sex, through determining and enforcing mandatory dress codes for women'.
He was first listed in March 2023, months before
