Author: Hanif Jazayeri

Brussels is the new battleground for combating impunity for Iran’s officials

Post author By Hanif Jazayeri
Post date September 16, 2022

By Hanif Jazayeri

Brussels has become the new battleground for combating impunity for Iranian officials; sadly though, the Belgian government is not on the right side.

In March, the government of Belgium quietly signed an agreement with Iran for the transfer of convicted prisoners. While there aren’t many known Iranian nationals in prison in Belgium who would prefer to serve their sentences in an Iranian jail, there is one exception.

Assadollah Assadi, Third Secretary of Iran’s embassy in Austria, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in a Belgian jail for attempting to bomb the 2018 annual Free Iran convention in Paris. That event, organised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), was attended by tens of thousands of opponents of the Iranian theocracy and hundreds of international dignitaries including former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former French Foreign Ministers Bernard Kouchner and Philippe Douste-Blazy, and dozens of Members of Parliament, including five from the UK. The keynote speaker was NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi.

All of them were potential victims of the bomb plot orchestrated by Assadi on behalf of the Iranian state. In the leadup to the event, Assadi flew in an Austrian Airlines passenger flight from Tehran to Vienna, with a 500-gram TATP explosive device in his diplomatic suitcase. He then handed over the explosives to two would-be bombers at a Pizza Hut meeting in Luxembourg. That pair, based in Belgium, were to travel to Paris posing as NCRI supporters to set off an explosion that if successful would have resulted in mass casualties. Little did Assadi and his cohorts know that they were under surveillance the whole time.

Police moved in and arrested the terrorist pair and a fourth accomplice on the day of the event, while Assadi was nabbed by German police the next day just before he could cross into Austria. Had he crossed over, he would have enjoyed diplomatic immunity, but since Germany was not his country of posting, and since he claimed he was returning from a family vacation in Luxembourg, his diplomatic immunity did not apply. (Diplomats do enjoy immunity while transiting third countries, but only when they are travelling back or forth between their own country and the state where they are posted. They don’t qualify for immunity while on vacation in third countries.)

All four suspects were eventually extradited to Belgium and later found guilty by a Belgian court. The Belgian Judiciary handed down a definitive maximum possible sentence to Assadi and stated that he was acting on behalf of the Iranian state.

Recently, however Iran has stepped up its strategy of hostage diplomacy. It has in recent times arrested a number of European citizens and dual nationals on spurious charges. Accordingly, Iran’s state media have stated plainly that these individuals would only be freed if Assadi is released back to Iran. A lenient approach in this regard would undermine the rule of law in Europe and could also lead to more acts of terrorism.

The Belgian government’s secret treaty with Iran, signed on 11 March 2022, would allow Assadi to serve the remainder of his 20-year sentence in Iran.

Most worryingly, Article 13 of the treaty states: “Each Party may grant pardon, amnesty or commutation of the sentence in accordance with its Constitution or other laws.”

That article would effectively allow the Iranian government to grant pardon to Assadi the moment he steps foot in Iran.

Last week, 68 distinguished current and former EU and UN judges and human rights and legal experts sent an open letter to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo decrying the scandalous deal and urging his government not to encourage impunity for Iran’s officials by freeing its convicted diplomat.

Signatories to the open letter from 25 countries, among them 17 European countries, included 18 former senior United Nations officials including a former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the UN, a former Chairman of the UN International Law Commission, a former President of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, and four former UN Special Rapporteurs. Other distinguished signatories included a current Special Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a former President of the European Commission of Human Rights, and a former Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and former Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Distinguished legal experts supporting the letter included an Ad hoc Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), three former Judges of the General Court of the European Union, a former President of the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, a former President of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland, and a former President of the Constitutional Court of Andorra. Other distinguished signatories included a former Foreign Minister of Canada, a former Attorney General of Portugal, France’s former Human Rights Ambassador, and a former US Ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights.

The open letter stated: “Releasing Assadollah Assadi back to Iran would only fuel the culture of impunity that exists for Iran’s officials.”

“Allowing Assadi to serve the remainder of his 20-year sentence in Iran, the state which was responsible for the attempted terrorist bombing, would make a mockery of the rule of law and foster further impunity for the Iranian government and its officials involved in terrorism and crimes against humanity.”

“Transferring Assadi to Iran would effectively free him from serving his sentence and would set a dangerous precedent and seriously weaken the rule of law in Europe. It would encourage more Iranian terrorism on EU soil and reassure Iranian officials that they could evade responsibility for major international crimes. Belgium would bear heavy responsibility in this regard.”

“Following a complaint filed by the NCRI and several international dignitaries, who were the potential victims of the terrorist plot, the Brussels Court of Appeal issued a temporary ruling blocking the transfer of Assadi to Iran.”

The international experts reminded Prime Minister de Croo that UN Security Council resolution 1373, which was adopted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and which is binding on all UN Member States, decides that all States shall: “Ensure that any person who participates in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts is brought to justice and ensure that, in addition to any other measures against them, such terrorist acts are established as serious criminal offences in domestic laws and regulations and that the punishment duly reflects the seriousness of such terrorist acts.”

“We strongly urge the government of Belgium to resist Iran’s hostage diplomacy tactics. Rather than helping to foster impunity in Iran by releasing a convicted terrorist, the Belgian government should unequivocally declare that Assadollah Assadi will not be released back to Iran and that he must serve the remainder of his sentence in Belgium,” the open letter added.

Their message was reinforced this week in a separate joint appeal by 21 former European prime ministers and ministers to Prime Minister De Croo, urging his government not to free Assadi.

It would be delusional to believe that Assadi would carry out the remainder of his sentence in Iran and “make a mockery of the rule of law in Europe,” the ministers stated.

Their letter ended with a final plea in which the ministers wrote that “at a minimum, Brussels must make it absolutely clear that the treaty will not apply to terrorists” and that Assadi must stay in Belgium for the remainder of his sentence or for “the sake of the common safety and security of all European nations.”

It’s hard to fathom why in the battle against impunity for Iranian officials, the government of Belgium should be on the side of the guilty party, but now more than ever all advocates of the rule of law should speak up to ensure Belgium does not violate its obligations to international law to placate the world’s chief state sponsor of terror.

Hanif Jazayeri is Secretary of London-based NGO Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) and a news editor. His Twitter handle is @HanifJazayeri.

Tags #assadi, #belgium, #iran, #Iran's1988Massacre, #transitionaljustice

Domestic prosecutions Iran Universal jurisdiction

After landmark verdict, it’s high time to prosecute Iran’s senior officials for 1988 massacre

Post author By Hanif Jazayeri
Post date July 23, 2022

Photos of victims of Iran's 1988 massacre of political prisoners outside the US Congress, August 2021

Last week, after more than nine months and 92 sessions, Stockholm’s District Court in Sweden handed down its landmark judgement and sentenced former Iranian prison official Hamid Noury to life imprisonment for his role in the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners.

The families of the victims have long sought accountability for Noury and other perpetrators of the mass murder of their loved ones.

This long-awaited act of justice, that was made possible through Sweden’s use of the principle of universal jurisdiction, should serve as a guiding precedent to the international community for achieving accountability and justice for crimes against humanity.

Hamid Noury, acting as Deputy Assistant Prosecutor of Gohardasht Prison in 1988, was a junior figure in the massacre. Meanwhile, the most senior Iranian officials involved at the time, including current President Ebrahim Raisi, who in 1988 was a member of the Tehran Death Commission that sent thousands of political prisoners to death, continue to evade responsibility and enjoy impunity.

The massacre took place in the summer of 1988 based on a fatwa by Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. His religious decree targeted members of the main opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI or MEK).

Three-member commissions known as ‘Death Commissions’ were formed in dozens of prisons across Iran sending political prisoners who refused to denounce the MEK and abandon their beliefs to execution.

Protest Rally, Place des Nations, Geneva,26/02/2019 – Hundreds of Iranian exiles supporters of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran, carried Iranian flags and banners opposed to the Iranian regime in a rally on Tuesday February, 26,2019 in front of the UN Headquarters in Geneva to protest grave violations of human rights in Iran.

Based on the accounts of survivors and former Iranian officials, some 30,000 political prisoners were executed within the space of a few months. More than 90 percent of the victims were affiliated to the MEK. The rest were mainly members of leftist groups. The victims were buried in secret mass graves.

The perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity.

Since 2016, Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre (JVMI) has confirmed the identities of nearly 100 ‘Death Commission’ members. Many still hold senior positions in the Iranian judiciary or government. They include the current President Ebrahim Raisi.

The failure of the international community, and in particular the UN, to hold the perpetrators to account for more than three decades has fuelled a culture of impunity in Iran.

Till the landmark 14 July 2022 judgement by the Swedish court, the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre have never faced justice. Exercising universal jurisdiction, the Swedish judicial system has now shown the world the good practice in standing against impunity.

Last week, Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, the current Head of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges and former Head of the Tehran Death Commission, broke his silence and voluntarily confessed by defiantly defending the 1988 massacre with total impunity.

Asked about the mass executions of 1988, Nayyeri stated: “In such critical circumstances, what were we to do? We had to hand down verdicts decisively. … In such circumstances, we cannot run the country by offering them hugs and kisses!”

Thanks to the impartiality and independence of the Swedish judicial system, justice and the rule of law have prevailed in the case of Hamid Noury. He was found guilty as charged and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In reaching their judgement to hold Hamid Noury accountable for the part he played in the summary execution of political prisoners in 1988, the Swedish judges relied partly on evidence provided by the laborious work of JVMI, published in two reports in 2017. This evidence has been cited throughout the text of the landmark judgement.

While Noury’s conviction is a welcome step, there’s not a moment to lose to hold other perpetrators accountable.

As recently as May 2022, there have been reports from Iran of the authorities taking steps to destroy mass graves to wipe away evidence of the 1988 massacre.

In January 2022, some 470 current and former UN officials, human rights and legal experts, and international NGOs and academic institutions wrote to the UN Human Rights Council calling for an international inquiry into the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran. The letter urged the HRC to challenge the impunity enjoyed by Iranian officials by mandating an international investigation into the 1988 mass executions and enforced disappearances.

It’s high time the UN does its part to achieve accountability and justice over the 1988 massacre. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) should establish an independent international commission of inquiry into the 1988 mass extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, without further delay.

Furthermore, UN Member States that exercise universal jurisdiction should open criminal investigations against the most senior perpetrators of the 1988 massacre.

Hanif Jazayeri is Secretary of London-based NGO Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) and a news editor. His Twitter handle is @HanifJazayeri.

Tags #iran, #Iran's1988Massacre, #righttotruth, #sweden, #transitionaljustice, #universaljurisdiction

Iran Right to truth

It’s time for accountability for Iran’s 1988 massacre

Post author By Hanif Jazayeri
Post date November 21, 2021
1 Comment on It’s time for accountability for Iran’s 1988 massacre

By Hanif Jazayeri

Thirty-three years ago, on the orders of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran carried out a systematic slaughter of thousands of political prisoners who refused to renounce their beliefs in what became known as the 1988 massacre. For over three decades, families of the victims have faced imprisonment and torture for seeking justice. While key perpetrators of those mass atrocities have now risen to positions of power, the world is, belatedly, only just starting to wake up to the crisis of impunity that exists in Iran.

The 1988 massacre

In July 1988, at the end of the Iran-Iraq War, Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious decree, ordering the execution of imprisoned opponents who had already been tried and were serving their prison terms. Thus began what turned out to be the biggest massacre of political prisoners in recent history. It is estimated that some 30,000 inmates were extra-judicially executed or forcibly disappeared within several months.

Khomeini’s fatwa targeted political prisoners affiliated to the main opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) who remained loyal to the organization. The fatwa stated: “As the [PMOI] do not believe in Islam … and as they are waging war on God … It is decreed that those who are in prison throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the [PMOI] are waging war on God and are condemned to execution.”

‘Death Commissions’ were formed across Iran sending thousands of prisoners who refused to abandon their beliefs to execution. The victims were buried in secret mass graves across the country.

Eminent human rights experts have stated that the extrajudicial executions of 1988 amount to crimes against humanity and genocide. Former UN judge Geoffrey Robertson has described the killings as genocide, arguing that according to Khomeini’s decree, the principal reason for the call to annihilate PMOI supporters was that they were “waging war on God.” According to renowned international humanitarian law expert Prof. Eric David, what happened in 1988 “amounts to genocide.”

A culture of impunity

Iranian society is today at serious risk of further mass atrocities, with top perpetrators of the 1988 massacre being appointed to the head of both the Executive and Judiciary branches in 2021. Iran’s current President Ebrahim Raisi was in 1988 Deputy Tehran Prosecutor and a member of the ‘Tehran Death Commission’ that sent thousands of political prisoners to death, while Iran’s new Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei supervised the mass executions of 1988 as the Judiciary’s representative in the Intelligence Ministry.

The failure of the international community to hold the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre accountable has emboldened the Iranian authorities to commit further atrocities against dissident protesters and political prisoners, as was witnessed during the deadly crackdown on the nationwide protests of 2019.

Meanwhile, families of the victims, survivors, and human rights defenders are today the subject of persistent threats, harassment, intimidation, and attacks because of their attempts to seek information on the fate and whereabouts of the victims and their demands for justice. Simultaneously, the authorities are systematically destroying the mass graves in an attempt to wipe the evidence of their crimes.

The families seek justice

In 2016, at the request of the families, a group of human rights lawyers formed ‘Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran’ (JVMI) in London to help the campaign for accountability, truth, and justice.

Based on interviews with dozens of survivors and hundreds of families, JVMI has identified nearly 100 members of the 1988 Death Commissions in two published reports. It has also identified 59 mass graves where victims are believed to be buried. JVMI has presented its findings to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Time for a UN inquiry

In a major breakthrough, seven UN Special Rapporteurs wrote to the Iranian authorities on 3 September 2020, pointing out that the 1988 extrajudicial executions may amount to “crimes against humanity.”

The seven experts stated that the failure of UN bodies to act over the 1988 massacre has “had a devastating impact on the survivors and families” and “emboldened” the Iranian authorities to “conceal the fate of the victims and to maintain a strategy of deflection and denial.”

They suggested that the international community should “investigate the cases including through the establishment of an international investigation.”

With Iran failing to respond to the Special Rapporteurs, some 152 former UN officials and renowned international human rights and legal experts wrote to UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on 3 May 2021, calling for the formation of a Commission of Inquiry into the 1988 massacre.

In addition to JVMI, the letter’s signatories included a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former UN Deputy Secretary-General, 28 former UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights, and the chairs of previous UN Commissions of Inquiry into human rights abuses in Eritrea and North Korea. Distinguished legal professionals who signed the appeal included the former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, a former Special Prosecutor at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and the first President of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Furthermore, Amnesty International in a statement on 19 June 2021 reiterated that Ebrahim Raisi had a key role in the 1988 massacre and should be “investigated for his involvement in past and ongoing crimes under international law, including by states that exercise universal jurisdiction.”

In its report, Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity, published in 2018, Amnesty International concluded that, in addition to committing the crime against humanity of murder in 1988, by extrajudicially executing thousands of political dissidents in secret, the Iranian authorities are committing the ongoing crimes against humanity of enforced disappearance, persecution, torture and other inhumane acts, including by systematically concealing the fate of the victims and the whereabouts of their remains.

UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Javaid Rehman, in an interview with Reuters on 29 July 2021 called for an independent inquiry into the 1988 state-ordered executions and the role played by Ebrahim Raisi as Tehran Deputy Prosecutor. Prof. Rehman said that his office was ready to share gathered testimonies and evidence if the UN Human Rights Council or another body sets up an impartial investigation. He expressed concern at reports that some “mass graves” were being destroyed as part of a continuing cover-up.

Separately, in a report to the Human Rights Council, the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) called for an “international investigation” into the 1988 massacre. The report, dated 4 August 2021, stated: “The Working Group reiterates the concerns expressed about the ongoing concealment of burial sites of those forcibly disappeared and allegedly executed between July and September 1988 across the country. The Working Group recalls that an enforced disappearance continues until the fate and whereabouts of the individuals concerned are established and joins the call for an international investigation into the matter.”

In light of the concerns raised by the UN Special Procedures, some UN Member States are now also beginning to focus on the need for accountability and justice over the 1988 massacre.

In Sweden, a low-ranking perpetrator of the 1988 massacre, Hamid Noury, is currently in custody and on trial for his role as Assistant to the Deputy Prosecutor of Gohardasht Prison during the mass murders.

Furthermore, at the UN General Assembly Third Committee last week, Canada’s representative decried attempts by Iranian authorities to destroy evidence of the 1988 massacre, stating: “Families must be able to exercise their rights to remedy and to reparation. They deserve to know the truth.”

Similarly, the UK has urged Iran to allow the UN Special Rapporteur access to the country to “conduct research and investigations into human rights concerns reported there, including the events of 1988, and the reports of intimidation and destroyed evidence.”

The US State Department in a tweet marking the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances in August called on Iran to release political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared who has been held in Iranian prisons for 12 years for protesting the deaths of her family members in the 1988 massacres.

Meanwhile, Belgium’s Foreign Minister urged Iran in September to reveal the truth about the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of 1988. And the Prime Minister of Slovenia, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, publicly supported an international Commission of Inquiry into the 1988 massacre in a speech last July.

While such public positions by world leaders are a welcome development, a UN investigation into the 1988 massacre is long overdue.

It’s high time the Human Rights Council once and for all challenges the impunity enjoyed by Iranian officials by adopting a resolution for an international investigation into the 1988 mass extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances of thousands of political prisoners. It’s time for Iranian officials to be held to account. Accountability is vital for bringing closure to the families and for preventing similar mass atrocities by Iranian officials in response to ongoing protests by Iran’s people for political change.

Hanif Jazayeri is Secretary of London-based NGO Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) and a news editor. His Twitter handle is @HanifJazayeri.

Tags #AyatollahKhomeini, #ExtrajudicialExecutions, #ForcedDissapearences, #Iran's1988Massacre, #righttotruth