The Islamic Republic of Iran and the government of Bashar al-Assad are complicit in crimes against humanity
On 18 September 2020, the Dutch government announced that it has sued the government of Bashar al-Assad for human rights violations: “Syria has committed widespread gross human rights violations against Syrians, including torture. International organisations have repeatedly reported serious human rights violations for years. Large numbers of Syrians have been tortured, murdered, forcibly disappeared, and subjected to poison-gas attacks, or have lost everything fleeing for their lives.” Announced the Dutch foreign affairs, in a statement.
https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2020/09/18/the-netherlands-holds-syria-responsible-for-gross-human-rights-violations .
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands also said that “it’s an important signal to the other dictators of this world.” and that “we have indications that we might have the support of other countries”. The case is due to be submitted to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the highest judicial authority in the United Nations, after the preliminary steps.
The move by the Dutch government and the filing of a criminal case against the government of Bashar al-Assad for its crimes against humanity is an important and positive step, and in fact it is a response to the millions of protests worldwide against the heinous crimes of Bashar al-Assad, although with a long delay. We hope that more governments around the world raise their voices in protest against the genocide and the great crimes of the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad against the people of Syria. This is a warning to all the brutal dictators in the world.
It is important to point out that the crimes of Bashar al-Assad’s government and the Islamic Republic go hand in hand; the Islamic Republic has been the main supporter and accomplice to the crimes. There is much undeniable evidence of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s full support for the Assad regime and involvement of its forces in the heinous crimes against the people of Syria. A criminal case against the Assad regime without one against the Islamic Republic would be incomplete and contradictory.
More importantly, the Islamic Republic has committed very horrific and shocking crimes in Iran itself, which are no less, if not more, than the crimes of Bashar al-Assad. Apart from the genocides of previous years, one of the most recent incidents was the deliberate firing of a missile at a Ukrainian airliner on 8 January 2020 in which 167 passengers and nine crew members were killed.
Another example was during the protests in November 2019, when, according to Reuters, 1500 protesters were shot dead by the Islamic regime’s forces. More than 7000 people have been arrested and subjected to extremely intolerable, horrific and inhumane conditions in the prisons of the Islamic Republic. Amnesty International’s recent report entitled “Trampling Humanity” (2 September 2020), reflects on the horrific situation of the prisoners.
The execution of Navid Afkari, a young wrestling champion on 12 September 2020, which drew the world’s attention to the Islamic Republic’s judicial system, is another example of the Islamic regime’s systematic crimes.
Other crimes include the killing of tens of thousands of political prisoners in the early 1980s, the killing of thousands of political prisoners in the summer of 1988, the imposition of sexual apartheid on society, political assassinations abroad, and thousands of other crimes.
We have been insisting for years on the political boycott of the Islamic Republic and the trial of its leaders for crimes against humanity. The recent crimes of this government leave no doubt for any organisation and government that claim to defend human rights that the leaders of the Islamic Republic should be tried and this government should be boycotted and isolated internationally. The Islamic Republic must be expelled from all international institutions and its criminal case must be opened before the United Nations and the International High Court.
Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI)
24-09-2020