IRAN has called on the United Nations and its Human Rights Council to stop their ‘selective’ approach and condemn the recent assassination of the prominent Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, as an act of terrorism.
In separate letters to the UN Secretary General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretary of the Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights demanded that they deal with terrorism in Iran just for once as they deal with it in countries like France and Austria.
Ali Bagheri Kani wrote that inaction over this terrorist and criminal act and failure to highlight it in the relevant UN reports would further question the credibility of the reports and may be considered as giving legitimacy to terrorism.
It would also result in further spread of radicalism and terrorism, entailing international responsibility for the United Nations, he added.
Bagheri Kani also reminded the UN Secretary General of the clear stances he adopted against terrorist acts in other countries including Austria and France, calling on Antonio Guterres to stress the necessity of greater cooperation among countries for the administration of justice against terrorists and ultimately draw the attention of the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations to this state-orchestrated assassination and violation of international peace and security in accordance with the implementation of Article 99 of the United Nations Charter.
‘Within the framework of these thoughts and approaches, the newly-emerged concept of ‘state terrorism’ is being exploited as an instrument by the powers to advance their illegitimate and illegal policies which would ultimately threaten and violate peace, security and human rights more than any other time,’ he added in the letter.
He also slammed the ‘politically-motivated’ approach taken by western countries toward the vicious phenomenon of terrorism, and wrote these countries’ double standards and decriminalisation of terrorism in ‘terrorism-laundering’ frameworks have exposed the global community to new challenges in connection with international peace and security.
The Iranian official said the assassination of Fakhrizadeh is a blatant breach of peremptory norms and inviolable international human rights, such as the right to life, as stipulated in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The international responsibility for this flagrant violation of peremptory principles is incumbent on the countries, the Western advocates of human rights and international organisations which chose to be silent and take no action, he added.
The Iranian first vice president says the world and international organisations must condemn state terrorism to prevent acts of violence.
Fakhrizadeh, the head of the Iranian Defence Ministry’s Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research, was targeted in a multi-pronged terrorist attack in Absard city of Tehran Province’s Damavand County on Friday November 27th.
Iranian government officials and military commanders have hinted that the Israeli regime could have been behind the terror attack, vowing harsh revenge against all the criminals involved.
Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said last Monday that the country’s security forces had found a lot of new leads on the crime.
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has vehemently censured the brutal assassination of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, describing the terrorist act as contrary to international norms and laws.
In a statement released last Friday, the SCO member states strongly condemned the targeted killing of Fakhrizadeh and expressed hope that the perpetrators of the ‘cowardly act’ would be identified and brought to justice.
‘Such actions are not only against all norms of inter-governmental relations and international law but also threaten peace and stability in a fragile region,’ the SCO said in the statement, also denouncing all destabilising acts in the West Asia region, as well as terrorism, in any form or shape.
Prominent Iranian physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is assassinated in a terrorist attack near Tehran, the Defence Ministry says.
Iranian government officials and military commanders consider that the Israeli regime, which has already murdered a number of Iran’s scientific elites, was behind the terror attack.
An informed source has told Press TV that the remains of the weapon used in the assassination show that it was made in Israel, adding that the weapon collected from the site of the terrorist act bears the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry.
The Iranian administration announced last Wednesday that the country’s Intelligence Ministry has identified the individuals involved in the assassination of Fakhrizadeh.
The targeted killing of the top nuclear scientist has drawn widespread condemnations from many countries, while a senior Iranian official said: ‘There is no doubt that the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a calculated and categorical response.’
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry condemned in a statement last Thursday the assassination of Fakhrizadeh and said the heinous act was in breach of the norms of international relations and international law.
‘The assassination of the Iranian scientist is not only contrary to the norms of relations between countries and international law, but also threatens the peace and stability of a region that is already tense,’ read the statement.
The ministry underlined that: ‘The Pakistani government extends its condolences to the family of Iranian scientist – martyr Fakhrizadeh – and to the people of the country.’
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry also called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and prevent an escalation of tensions in the region.
- Meanwhile, Iran has warned about ‘suspicious’ moves by those who seek to disrupt cordial relations between Tehran and Kabul, after a video purportedly showing Afghan nationals being insulted by Iranians went viral.
The Iranian Police issued an announcement on Friday suggesting the video published on social media with regards to insulting Afghan nationals was basically untrue, and that the incident in question had not happened in Iran.
In a separate statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh expressed regret over such incidents, wherever in the world they might occur.
He called on the government and officials of the brotherly and friendly country of Afghanistan to be more careful with releasing news and not to rush when issuing official statements.
‘At a time when the Khaf-Herat railroad is to be inaugurated by both countries’ presidents in the coming days as the symbol of extensive cooperation between the two sides, it is inevitably necessary to be wary of suspicious actions by those who are against Iran-Afghanistan relations,’ Khatibzadeh noted.
The first consignment of Iranian export goods has arrived in Afghanistan through the long-awaited Khaf-Herat railroad, which is going to be officially inaugurated in the coming days.
‘Iran and Afghanistan are two friendly and neighbouring countries with a common culture and a historical background of unity and cooperation,’ the Iranian police said in its statement.
‘The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported Afghanistan despite all the problems and cruel sanctions, and will do so in the future,’ it added.
It said Afghan people have entered Iran in the past decades because of the numerous problems they faced, and Iran has always warmly received and hosted them as its brothers and sisters.
However, it added, enemies are not pleased with this empathy and humanitarian interaction between the two sides, and make mischievous moves every now and then.
‘They spare no effort to destroy trust between the two countries, but the people of Iran and Afghanistan will always stand by each other and these tensions will not disrupt their cordial relations,’ it added.
Similar efforts to disrupt Iran-Afghanistan relations were also made earlier this year after two incidents in which Afghan nationals were killed.
The first was in May, when a group of 54 Afghan migrants allegedly sought to enter Iran, but were thrown into the river Harirud, on the border between Iran and Afghanistan.
Western media claimed that Iranian border guards killed the migrants by forcing them into the river at gunpoint. Eighteen were reportedly drowned, among them a 12-year-old boy. However, Iran categorically rejected the claims.
In the next incident, on the third of June, a bus fire on the road from the Iranian central city of Yazd, went as such: the car was transporting illegal Afghan refugees or entrants to other cities.
When the police became suspicious and the driver refused to stop, the police shot at one of the back tyres of the car, which caught fire after skidding on the asphalt for some eight kilometres due to its high speed. Finally, it hit the centre guardrail, and eventually caught fire. This was also used as a pretext to impact Tehran-Kabul relations.
