HCHR_Kazem Gharibabadi, the Vice-President of the Judiciary for International Affairs and the Secretary-General of the High Council for Human Rights on Tuesday, January 12th, on the side event of the fourth session of the trial of MKO terrorist group, stated: “Terrorism is one of the major crimes that, unfortunately, takes places in some parts of the world with the support of some countries claiming human rights. So far, 23,000 innocent Iranians have been martyred due to the terrorist acts of various groups, of which only 17,000 were martyred by the MKO group.”
Gharibabadi added: “In the discussion of defending the victims, the issue of justice implementation and dealing with impunity is placed in the framework of human rights and the protection and promotion of human rights. The purpose of holding this court is to implement justice and legal and judicial work to deal with terrorist groups, which is a must.”
The terrorist groups that disguise their political actions as human rights acts, should be disgraced
Emphasizing the fact that terrorist groups pretending to be human rights groups under the guise of political actions should be disgraced, the Secretary-General of the High Council for Human Rights stated: “The documents related to their crimes should be provided to different countries and international organizations. Also, using judicial legal capacity to try MKOs and follow up on the implementation of the court order are important goals of holding this court.”
Stating that holding a court to deal with terrorist crimes against the people of Iran will not be limited to the MKO terrorist group, Gharibabadi noted: “Currently, we have prosecuted the terrorist groups that attribute themselves to the noble Kurdish people. Also, due to the presence of some of them in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, we have requested the extradition of 38 of them to Iraq, and we will have more cases in this regard.”
The Secretary-General added: “Our other steps taken in relation to terrorist groups is the legal and judicial pursuit of Takfiri groups such as Ansar al-Furghan and Jaish al-Zolm, who recently committed a crime in Rask. We have decided to file a comprehensive case against this group and its members and demand extradition. We will also put enormous political, legal and judicial pressure on the countries that provide shelter to these terrorist groups.”
Holding the trial of the MKOs is to deal with impunity
In another part, regarding the possibility of implementing the court’s potential verdicts and speculations about this issue due to the absence of the accused in Iran, the Vice-President of the Judiciary for International Affairs reiterated: “It is not a correct argument to say that implementing possible verdicts in this court is not possible for us because the accused individuals are abroad and we do not have access to them. Although this court is held very late, it was the right decision. Imagine a person escapes to another country after committing a murder, should we not bring him to court due to lack of access to the accused?”
Stating that holding a court is necessary to deal with impunity, Gharibabadi reminded: “We should not rush now. We should let the court go through all its steps and issue its verdict. We have tools to follow the execution of the court order. The countries that shelter the MKOs, if faced with judicial rulings, can hardly defend their support of the MKOs and bring arguments. At least what happens in this situation is that these countries take action to expel the MKOs from their territory.”
Gharibabadi also pointed to the recent action of the Albanian government against the MKOs and said: “This action of the Albanian government was the result of our proper notification to the Albanian government. Because with this notification, we showed the true face of these terrorists to Albania. Therefore, we witnessed the imposition of some restrictions on the MKOs by the Albanian government. As a result of the Court's ruling, more success will be achieved in confronting the terrorists and shaming them and their supporters.”
The fair trial process in holding the trial of the MKOs has been fully respected
In another part of his statement, Gharibabadi stated that the entire process of fair trial according to the Criminal Procedure Law has been considered for holding the trial of the MKOs. He added: “From the very beginning, all the accused have been notified and the documents and summons of the court have been either sent to them in appropriate ways through the addresses that were available from them or were published in widely circulated newspapers.”
The Secretary-General of the High Council for Human Rights added: “The defendants were also asked to introduce their lawyers if they wish. However, they did not introduce a lawyer. Not introducing a lawyer and not appearing in court does not mean that this court does not have the necessary jurisdiction or that the trial is not fair. The Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that in cases where the accusations are heavy and serious, a public defender is appointed, therefore, a public defender was appointed for the accused individuals of the case. The public defenders had access to all the content of the indictment and the case and read it, and whenever they want and need, they will be provided with the necessary access again.”
He noted: “The public defenders told the accused that we do not have access to you, but if you have anything to defend yourself, you can send it to our address and contact details.” He added: “According to the Head of the Court, if the accused introduce a lawyer of their own choice, it will be accepted. All principles of fair trial have been observed and respected, so we are not worried about that.”
Artistic actions have a great effect in discrediting the faces of MKOs and terrorist groups
In another part about introducing the crimes of the MKOs through cinema and television, Gharibabadi called such measures useful and said: “It is very important that the artistic community shows the sufferings of people through the production of documentaries, cartoons, series and movies, paintings and clips. Such works can show the sacrifice of our innocent people in different ways by the MKOs.”
Cooperation between Iran and Iraq regarding the documentation of Saddam's financial support to MKOs
The Vice-President of the Judiciary for International Affairs referred to the new documents related to the MKOs which have been provided to the representative of the prosecutor and noted: “A joint committee has been formed with Iraq to deal with terrorism, which is characterized by targeting terrorist groups and their actions from which both countries have suffered. The first one is the MKO terrorist group. In the first step, the Iraqi judicial authorities informed us that during the Shabaniyah intifada, they filed a case against the MKO terrorist group due to the killing of Iraqi Shiites and Kurds. This case has recently been provided to us.”
Referring to the fact that arrest warrants had been issued for more than 118 members of the MKO terrorist group in Iraq in 1990s, Gharibabadi noted: “This case is still open in the Iraqi court. This will be a very important contribution to our court and its process and continuity. We also requested other documents from the Iraqi side. Among these documents were the documents presented by the prosecutor's representative in today's (Tuesday) court session, which showed that the MKOs had extensive financial support from the Saddam regime.”
Gharibabadi also stated: “We requested the Iraqi authorities to provide us with more and more detailed documents regarding Saddam's financial support to the MKOs.” He added: “This request is currently being processed and we will receive these documents soon. Our cooperation with the government of Iraq will continue to obtain other and more documents. There are victims, witnesses and informants regarding the terrorist acts of the MKOs in Iraq, and we have agreed to receive their statements with the cooperation of the Iraqi judicial system.”