My Dear Compatriots and Freedom loving citizens of the World,
Today I am submitting the following report to the United Nations Security Council on crimes against humanity, ordered by Mr Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and carried out on the people of Iran. The focus of the attached “Report on Crimes Against Humanity Committed in Iran on the Orders of Mr. Ali Khamenei – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran” are the crimes against humanity committed to suppress popular dissent after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fraudulent re-election in June 2009. The evidence in this report provides sufficient cause for the United Nations Security Council to take up this matter and refer it quickly to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. However, for the past thirty-three years, the Supreme Leaders of the Islamic Republic have had in place a policy and record of oppression against ethnic communities and religious minorities. I intend to file further supporting reports documenting the abuses of these Iranian citizens and will summarize these crimes in another report.
This attached report along with the cover letter is addressed to the following recipients:
His Excellency President Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China
His Excellency President Nicolas Sarkozy of the French Republic
His Excellency President Dmitry Medvedev of Russian Federation
His Excellency President Barack Obama of the United States
The Right Honorable Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom
His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco
Her Excellency Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany
The Right Honorable Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho of Portugal
The Right Honorable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India
His Excellency President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan
His Excellency President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón of Colombia
His Excellency President Álvaro Colomof Guatemala
His Excellency President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan
His Excellency President Jacob Zuma of South Africa
His Excellency President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo
The Right Honorable Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Li Boadong, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Agshin Mehdiyev, Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Nestor Osorio, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Peter Wittig, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Gert Rosenthal, Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Hardeep Singh Puri, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Mohammed Loulichki, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations
The Right Honorable José Filipe Moraes Cabral, Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Baso Sangqu, South African Permanent representative to the United Nations
The Right Honorable Kodjo Menan, Permanent Representative of Togo to the United Nations
I want to thank the team of legal and human rights experts who worked tirelessly to put together this important report. I strongly urge the members of the United Nations Security Council to give top priority and their highest consideration to this vital matter and expeditiously refer these crimes to the International Criminal Court.
The people of Iran have suffered far too long and today expect help and support from the international community. I therefore encourage all justice-minded people around the world to take action and ask their respective governments – particularly those who are members of the security council – to take positive action on this complaint.
Reza Pahlavi
Letter and Full Report being sent to the recipients mentioned above on Monday, January 23, 2012
To their Excellencies,
Members of the UN Security Council Members
Your Excellencies,
I address this message to you to alert you of the grave acts ordered by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr Ali Khamenei. These acts constitute systemic and continuing violations of human rights and are subject to a classification as “crimes against humanity” as defined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute. These acts are directed against all Iranian citizens of all social classes, who are demanding that their human rights, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, be respected.
In addition to the matters related in the recent report of Mr. Ahmad Shahid – Special Reporter on the Human Rights Situation in Iran – there are ample evidences indicating that the regime which deprives Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Ms Zahra Rahnavard and Mr. Mehdi Karroubi of their freedom violates all international laws. None of them have been able to benefit from the legal rights that an ordinary person prosecuted by the justice of his or her own country must have access to. They have in fact been refused the right to defend themselves and to benefit from legal representation.
In this wave of repression that affects the entire population, the Islamic Republic has used cruel, inhuman and degrading means and methods against many Iranian citizens, including but not limited to : Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, Bahman Ahamdi Amoui, Mansour Osanlou, Hasan Asadi Zeidabadi, Emaddin Baqi, Ayatollah Boroujerdi, Emad Behavar, Hossein Palani, Ali Pour Soleiman, Mohammad Reza Pour Shajari , Mostafa Tajzadeh, Majid Tavakoli, Reza Joshan, Hamid Reza Khadem, Mehdi Khodaee, Reza Khaajee, Mohammad Davari, Arzhang Davoudi, Majid Dorri, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, Ali Reza Sepahee Laeen, Issa Saharkhiz, Ghasem Sholeh Sadi, Keyvan Samimi, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi , Abulfazl Abedini, Javad Alikhani, Sad Gholamhosseinpour, Abbas Kakaee, Javad Lari, Farshad Maroufi, Mohammad Reza Moghayse, Hamid Moazzani, Abdollah Momeni, Bahareh Hedayat, Mahboobeh Karami, Hojatoleslam Arash Honarvar, Ahmad Zeidabadi, Ali Jamali, Mohsen Aminzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Feizollah Arabsorkhi, Esmaeel Sahabeh, Mohammad Esmaeel Khourbak, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Massoud Bastani, Farshad Ghorbanpour, Davood Soleimani, Behzad Nabavi, Mohsen Safai Farahani, Shabnam Madadzadeh, Saeed MatinPour, Hassan Fathi, Mehdi Mahmoudian, Priest Yousef Nadarkhani, Saeed Malekpour, Arash Sadeghi, Farshid Fathi, Shahin Zeinali, Arya Aramnejad, Sasan Vahebi, Reza Shahabi, Saeed Matinpour, Ali Malihi, Mohammad Seif, Mohammad Javad Mozaffar, Haniyeh Farshi, Mohammad Sedigh Kabodvand, Ali Akbar Ajami, Mahdiye Golroo, Fereshte Shirazi, Ronak Saffarzadeh, Mahbobeh Karami, Mosa Saket, Reza Malek, Saeed Maasouri, Amir Khosro Dalirsani, Zeinab Jalalian, Shirkooh Maarefi, Farah Vazehan, Sama Norani, Mahvash Sabet, Ziya Nabavi, Arash Honarvar Shojaei, Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamalodin Khanjani, Afif Naeemi, Saeed Rezaiee, Behrouz Tavakoli, Vahid Tizfahm, Parastou Dowkoohaki, Javad Emam, Saeed Jalalifar, Amir Khoram, Babak Dashab, Fatemeh Kheradmand, Alireza Rajaee, Hossein Zarrini, Seyed Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, Fereidoon Seydi Rad, Jalil Taheri, Mohammad Farid Taheri Ghazvini, Mohammad Tavassoli, Siamak Ghaderi, Abolfazl Ghadiani, Mohsen Mohagheghi and Mohammad Reza Motamednia. These and hundreds of other political prisoners from all categories of the Iranian people represent all democratic tendencies and are now oppressed.
Security forces and intelligence services of the Islamic Republic use the accusation of “crimes against national security” to justify their arbitrary arrests and to remove all proof and evidence attesting to the serious and systematic human rights violations in which they are engaged. On this basis, lawyers and defenders of human rights are prevented from accomplishing their mission: they are intimidated and some are arrested and imprisoned. Nasrin Sotoudeh, Abdulfatah Soltani, Hengameh Shahidi, Mohammad Seifzadeh and Kohyar Goudarzi are now silenced for these reasons. Their only crime is to have demanded respect of human rights for their compatriots.
As a founding member of the United Nations, Iran has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to express its willingness to join the community of nations working for peace and mutual understanding among the people. Despite that, leaders of the Islamic Republic are part of an ongoing violation of these universal values. The acts they commit, or which they give orders to commit, consist of serious violations of the provisions contained in this Declaration, particularly Articles 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 19, and Article 20 paragraph 1 and Article 21.
The only thing we can do is to report the names of the victims of the Islamic Republic, to provide documentary evidences and to inform the world about their situation. In addition to the names we have mentioned, there are hundreds, even thousands, who are held in prisons. There are hundreds, even thousands, who are subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The silence of the international community concerning the human rights situation of political prisoners in Iran can but lead to a worsening of the repression and encourage the Islamic Republic to continue its policy of terror.
As it is based on religious law, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic gives all political, military and economic power to the Supreme Leader, Mr Ali Khamenei, whose institution is at the top of the regime’s hierarchy. The powers he holds give him the possibility to control and intervene without limitation in all aspects of the public and private life of Iranians.
As Supreme Leader, Mr. Ali Khamenei nominates six of the twelve members of the Guardian Council of the Constitution, which then selects, in accordance with his instructions, eligible persons for the political institutions. The Head of the judiciary is nominated by him and can be dismissed at will. The Head of the judiciary implements the penal policy decided by the Supreme Leader and nominates the six others members of the Guardian Council of the Constitution in accordance with his instructions.
The Supreme Leader also controls the activity of the members of the regime’s Expediency Discernment Council, which works with him to preserve the regime and is composed of six members of the Guardian Council of the Constitution, the President of the Islamic Republic, the President of the Parliament, the Head of the judiciary, and ten or so persons nominated by him.
The Supreme leader controls the activity of the Assembly of Experts, indeed elected by the people but whose candidates must satisfy the requirements he defines through the Guardian Council of the Constitution. This Assembly works with him on the development of a political-religious doctrine in order to preserve the authority of the clergy in the country. Finally, he nominates the senior officials of the army and the police, the members of local councils, and the head of national radio and television services.
Thus, the person primarily responsible for the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic is the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic: Mr. Ali Khamenei.
For a long time, the Islamic Republic has managed to hide its true face of a totalitarian dictatorship. However, since the fraudulent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the people of Iran have experienced increased and unprecedented repression, implemented on the basis of a plan conceived, considered and prepared by the highest authorities of the regime. Thus, during the crackdown, security forces of the Islamic Republic have committed crimes against humanity, as defined by Article 7 of the Rome Statute, including:
- Murder;
- Imprisonment;
- Torture and rape;
- Enforced Disappearance;
- Persecution of various groups for political, religious or sexual reasons.
These crimes were not committed in a specific place or a particular region of Iran, but throughout the country, and against any Iranian civilian whose only crime was to demand free elections and the respect of the people’s vote. From the evidence that we have updated, it is clear that these crimes were deliberately committed against the civilian population, implementing political decisions taken by the highest authorities of the regime, and primarily by Mr. Ali Khamenei.
I accuse Mr. Ali Khamenei to be the person with primary responsibility for all crimes committed against Iranian citizens. What happened after the 2009 election meets all criteria of crimes against humanity, as defined by Article 7 of the Rome Statute.
For these reasons, I call on the Heads of State and Governments of member countries of the Security Council to refer these crimes to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, in accordance with Article 13 b) of the Rome Statute, so that he can investigate the crimes committed by leaders of the Islamic Republic against Iranian civilians.
I also call on the Heads of State and Governments of member countries of the Security Council to significantly increase pressure on the leaders of the Islamic Republic by demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners. As the Islamic Republic is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the international community have to call the Iranian regime to comply with its international obligations and with the fundamental rights of the Iranian people.
We believe that such a reaction from the international community, in response to the behaviour of the Iranian regime against its citizens, will send a strong message to the leaders of the Islamic Republic.
Your Excellencies,
The focus of the attached “Report on Crimes Against Humanity Committed in Iran on the Orders of Mr. Ali Khamenei – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran” are the crimes against humanity committed to suppress popular dissent after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fraudulent re-election in June 2009. However, for the past thirty three years, the Islamic Republic has had in place a policy and record of oppression against ethnic communities and religious minorities. We intend to file further supporting reports documenting the abuses of these Iranian citizens and we will summarize these in another report.
I respectfully request that you refer this urgent matter to the International Criminal Court. I assure you that there will be no resolution of the crises caused by the Islamic Republic unless it is forced to respect the fundamental rights of Iranian citizens.
Reza Pahlavi
