Transcript Powerpoint Presentation for "The Iran Tribunal"

Gresham 2013-2014, No 2
The Women’s International War-Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s
Military Sexual Slavery organised by various non-governmental
organisations; and
THE IRAN TRIBUNAL
The informal Iran Tribunal dealt with the atrocities of the regime
of the Ayatollahs in the 1980’s. In the absence of the UN being
prepared to do anything to record the crimes in a formal way,
Diaspora from around the world worked together to established
an informal tribunal that prepared an authoritative report in
2013 condemning the Iranian regime concerned. As a case
study the work of this tribunal provides may lessons for the
citizen who is dissatisfied with the performance of bodies that
may be reluctant to deal with politically difficult problems in
faraway places. At this lecture there will be accounts of the
nature of the torturing of individuals with a contribution - video
or in person - from an imprisoned victim explaining how it was
possible to maintain sanity and to survive in circumstances
where many would succumb
Yasuji Kaneko
•
•
•
Shortly before the executions commenced, Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini
issued "a secret but extraordinary order - some suspect a formal fatwa." This
set up "Special Commissions with instructions to execute members of People's
Mojahedin Organization of Iran asmoharebs (those who war against Allah)
and leftists as mortads (apostates from Islam)."
In part the letter read:
« ‫از آنجا که منافقین خائن به هیچ وجه به اسالم معتقد نبوده و هر چه میگویند از روی حیله و نفاق آنهاست و‬
‫ با توجه به محارب بودن آنها و جنگ کالسیک آنها در شمال‬،‫به اقرار سران آنها از اسالم ارتداد پیدا کردهاند‬
‫و غرب و جنوب کشور با همکاریهای حزب بعث عراق و نیز جاسوسی آنها برای صدام علیه ملت مسلمان ما‬
‫و با توجه به ارتباط آنان با استکبار جهانی و ضربات ناجوانمردانهٔ آنان از ابتدای تشکیل نظام جمهوری‬
،‫ کسانی که در زندانهای سراسر کشور بر سر موضع نفاق خود پافشاری کرده و میکنند‬،‫اسالمی تا کنون‬
147:‫ پاسداشت حقیقت‬،‫» (رضایی و سلیمی نمین‬.‫)محارب و محکوم به اعدام میباشند‬
Translation:
"Since:
PMOI members do not believe in Islam, while pretending otherwise.
Due to their systematic military war in the northern, western and southern
Iranian borders ...
Due to their cooperation with Saddam Hussein in war against Iran ...
Due to spying against Iran ...
Due to their connections with Western powers ([acting against Iran's
independence]) ...
all those jailed PMOI members who continue supporting PMOI and its
positions are considered militant enemies and need to be executed."
The Crimes committed against these
survivors remain one of the greatest
unacknowledged and unremedied
injustices of the Second World War. There
are no museums, no graves for the
unknown "comfort woman", no education
of future generations, and there have
been no judgement days for the victims of
Japan's military sexual slavery and the
rampant sexual violence and brutality that
characterized its aggressive war.
Accordingly, through this Judgment, this Tribunal
intends to honor all the women victimized by
Japan's military sexual slavery system. The Judges
recognize the great fortitude and dignity of the
survivors who have toiled to survive and reconstruct
their shattered lives and who have faced down fear
and shame to tell their stories to the world and
testify before us. Many of the women who have
come forward to fight for justice have died unsung
heroes. While the names inscribed in history's page
have been, at best, those of the men who commit
the crimes or who prosecute them, rather than the
women who suffer them, this Judgement bears
the names of the survivors who took the stand
to tell their stories, and thereby, for four days at
least, put wrong on the scaffold and truth on the
throne
Ghapani
Ghapani
FATWA
In the name of God, the benevolent and the merciful.
Since the treacherous munafiqin [Mujahideen] do not believe in Islam, and whatever they
say is stemmed from their deception and hypocrisy; and since, according to the claims of
their leaders, they have become apostates of Islam; and since they wage war on God and
are engaging in classical warfare in the western, northern and southern parts of the country
with the collaboration of the Baathist party of Iraq, and are spying for Saddam against our
Muslim nation; and since they are tied to the World Arrogance and have inflicted
treacherous blows to the Islamic Republic since its inception, it follows that those
who remain steadfast in their position of hypocrisy in prisons throughout the
country are considered to be mohareb [waging war on God] and are thus
condemned to a sentence of death, and determination of this issue in Tehran shall be
with a majority decision of Messrs Hojat-ol-Islam, Nayyeri (may his life be prolonged), and
his excellency Mr Eshraghi, and a representative of the Ministry of Information. The
preference, however, is unanimity. And in the same manner, in the prisons in the centre of
provinces, the majority decision of the religious judge, the revolutionary prosecutor or his
assistant, and the representative of the ministry of information shall be binding. It is naïve
to show mercy to moharebs. The decisiveness of Islam before the enemies of God is
among the unquestionable tenets of the Islamic regime. I hope that you satisfy the
almighty God with your revolutionary rage and rancour against the enemies of Islam.
The gentlemen who are responsible for making the decisions must not hesitate, nor
show any doubt or concern with details. They must try to be most ferocious against
infidels. To hesitate in the judicial process of revolutionary Islam is to ignore the
pure and holy blood of the martyrs.
Greetings, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini
JUIRISDICTION
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•
The Prosecution charged the Islamic Republic of Iran
with crimes against humanity. It was therefore the
Tribunal’s mandate determine:
Whether the alleged violations of human rights had
occurred;
Whether these violations constitute crimes against
humanity; and,
Whether as a matter of international law the Islamic
Republic of Iran has breached its international human
rights obligations towards its citizens
VERDICT
I.
II.
III.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has committed crimes
against humanity in the 1980-1989 periods against its
own citizens in violation of applicable international
laws;
The Islamic Republic of Iran bears absolute
responsibility for the gross violations of human rights
against its citizens under the International Covenant
of Civil and Political Rights; and,
Customary International law holds the Islamic
Republic of Iran fully accountable for its systematic
and widespread commission of crimes against
humanity in Iran in the 1980-1989 period.
Made in The Hague on this fifth day of February 2013
The next in the series of free public lectures by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC:
Law as a New Religion
and Other Topics
Wednesday 4th December, 6pm
Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, EC1N 2HH
Law is everywhere providing answers to almost everything. Ever larger numbers of students
want to be part of the legal mechanisms that control us, regulate us and take over from
politicians when politicians sense their own incapability. It is almost a new religion. In this
lecture – and in the discussion to follow – some of the issues dealt with in earlier years by
Professor Bogdanor (such as in his lectures, Judges or Legislators: Who Should Rule?,
The Judges and the Constitution and The Human Rights Act: Cornerstone of a New
Constitution) will be reviewed as will the effect of Europe on our law.
www.gresham.ac.uk