January 17, 2025
A member of the Dutch parliament who was not born in Iran but whose father is Iranian says the Islamic Republic sent him an email at his government office warning him that he was an Iranian citizen and subject to Iranian law.
Ulysse Ellian, 36, says the Islamic Republic was trying to intimidate him. The email, sent over three years ago, warned Ellian of his Iranian nationality “through the blood of your father” and claimed Iranian law applied to him. The message also stated that renouncing his unrequested Iranian citizenship would require him to complete mandatory military service in Iran.
“It is frightening and makes you feel powerless,” Ellian told RTL, a Dutch television station. Ellian received the email in 2021 just weeks after being sworn in as a member of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch Parliament. “It was a list of legal texts referencing Iranian laws,” Ellian explained. “In short, the email said: ‘Watch out.
Be careful. Through your father’s bloodline, we see you as a state citizen, and Iranian law applies to you’.” Ellian said the email was a stark reminder of threats his family had warned him about for years. “I was shocked. These pardon my language bastards really did it. They sent this to show they know exactly who I am,” he said.
Ellian was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1988 and fled to the Netherlands with his parents as a baby. His father, Afshin Ellian, an Iranian lawyer and poet, fled the Iranian regime after two family members were murdered. “Although I was born in Afghanistan and raised in the Netherlands, they still see me as Iranian because of my father,” Ellian said. Encouraged by his father, Ellian pursued a career in politics.
He began his political journey in the Almere City Council before joining the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD, People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy), representing the liberal right. VVD had long been the largest political party in the Netherlands but fell into third place in the 2023 elections that saw the Freedom Party, a Trumpist party led by Geert Wilders, come in first.
Ellian has actively spoken out against the Islamic Republic, including its suspected involvement in assassinations in the Netherlands. Ellian has no doubt about the regime’s role in killing dissidents in the Netherlanss. “The Iranian regime is behind these killings. Unfortunately, it’s not an exception,” he said. Ellian has expressed growing concern about the Iranian regime’s ties to organized crime in Europe.
He cited a report about Iran’s use of criminal networks to target dissidents abroad. Due to his outspoken stance against Iran and organized crime, Ellian has been under strict security measures for several years, provided by the same services that protect Geert Wilders. His father has also lived under protection for over two decades. “Behind the joke about ‘family discounts on security’ lies a harsh truth,” Ellian said.
“We’ve sacrificed a significant amount of freedom and are always on guard.” Ellian said he felt supported by the Dutch government. “Our cabinet is doing a lot, but Europe is not,” Ellian said. “Many politicians of Iranian descent across Europe face threats from the regime, but the European response remains inadequate.” Ellian refrains from sharing security concerns with his children or father, saying, “I don’t want to burden them. My father just wants to be a regular grandfather.”