Hold Iran’s regime accountable for crimes against humanity

On Monday (28 February), a dozen renowned human rights defenders and organizations attended a virtual conference on the opening day of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 49^th session, raising concern over Iran’s critical human rights situation.

Among participants were former UN judges, special rapporteurs, UN officials, prominent jurists and human rights experts who called for a UN inquiry into the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, which amounts to a genocide and crime against humanity.

Simultaneous with the virtual conference, organized by five NGOs, a rally and large photo exhibition was held in Geneva regarding the 1988 massacre and the call to action. Some of the massacre’s survivors and victims’ families attended this rally at Place des Nations in front of the UN’s European headquarters.

Broadcast.

The conference comes after a watershed in January, in the form of an open letter by some 470 prominent former UN judges and special rapporteurs, sent to the Council and Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling for an investigation into the 1988 genocide with a focus on the role of the Iranian regime’s current president Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi served as a member of Tehran’s 'Death Commission'. Formed following a fatwa by the regime’s then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, the Death Commissions were tasked to identify activists of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and send them to the gallows.

Monday’s conference and its participants also discussed the deteriorating human rights situation, with particular reference to the dramatic increase in executions, including those of women and juvenile offenders, during Raisi’s presidency, as well as the reactions of the international community.

“The 1988 massacre was a premeditated crime,” Tahar Boumedra, the former Director of the Human Rights Office of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, told the conference. “That fatwa was a death penalty for all the opposition and the MEK,” Boumedra emphasized, adding that the fatwa was intended to “exterminate all those prisoners” who refused to bow and that this crime against humanity could be described as a “genocide”, as it targeted the MEK supporters who believed in a different version of Islam. Mr. Boumedra quoted Geoffrey Robertson QC as supporting this designation.

Prof. Annalisa Ciampi, ad hoc Judge of the European Court of Human Rights and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, called for investigation and accountability about what happened in 1988 and other crimes against humanity, such as the cold-blooded killing of protesters in 2019. “The UN cannot shirk its responsibility,” Prof. Ciampi said.

Herve Saulignac, the vice president of the French Parliamentary Group for a Free Iran, condemned Ebrahim Raisi’s presidency as an expression of systemic impunity in Iran, and emphasized that “this impunity cannot persist.”

 “The 1988 massacre and the killings in 2019 are crimes against humanity.  This genocide calls for an international investigation. It is urgent to act as we know the Iranian regime is destroying evidence,” he added.  “France must hold the Iranian regime accountable for committing a crime against humanity in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners. Silence is not the answer.”

“There are two certainties regarding the 1988 massacre: first, a crime against humanity has been committed. Second, the international community has not stepped up to its standards and due process of law,” said Prof. Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, lead prosecutor at the trial of Slobodan Milošević in The Hague.

According to Hamid Sabi, an Iranian lawyer who organized the Iran Tribunal, “43 years of impunity enjoyed by the regime must end. The 1988 massacre was a grave case of crime against humanity.” He added the international community’s silence had allowed Tehran to continue its human rights violations and crimes, as with the killing of 1,500 innocent protesters during the November 2019 uprising.  He also underlined enforced disappearance as a concern for the world noting that it is the right of all families to know the whereabouts or resting places of their loved ones.

“The UN has been slow in dealing with the 1988 massacre of perhaps 30,000 political prisoners. HRC must change that. Justice must be done,” said Prof. Jeremy Sarkin, former Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

“I have deep sympathy for the families of the victims of the 1988 massacre. Justice must prevail in the name of universal morality,” said Prof. Valeriu M. Ciuca, protesting the international community’s inaction to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its human rights violations.

Gilbert Mitterrand, president of France Libertés, was also among the event’s speakers, which was co-organized by France Libertés. “The UN must bring to justice the leaders of the Iranian regime. Time is of the essence,” he said, calling out the international community’s inaction vis-à-vis the 1988 genocide and the ongoing human rights violations in Iran.  He also emphasized that “it took many years to bring justice to the 1988 massacre because governments failed to do their job. We are far from the objectives of the UN. The voice of democracy is a weapon, and we must use it.”

Prof Eric David, a renowned scholar of international criminal law joined his colleagues in calling for holding the Iranian regime’s leaders accountable for their crimes against humanity. “The current human rights situation in Iran is a crime against humanity,” Prof. David said, adding that “the Iranian regime leaders must be held accountable for countless human rights abuses”.

According to Prof. Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, a former UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic, equitable international order, said: “Justice must be rendered in all its aspects, especially for the families of the victims. Everyone has the right to know the truth about the 1988 massacre, and all victims should be included in the investigation. Universal Jurisdiction must be applied to prosecute Raisi for his role in the 1988 massacre.”

Share this article: