Naser Seraj, the Vice President of the Judiciary for International Affairs and the Secretary General of the High Council for Human Rights said in an interview with the Iranian Broadcasting News Agency regarding the goals and achievements of his recent visit to Iraq: "The Heads of the Judiciary of Iran and Iraq had some resolutions; following these exchanges, the Anti-Terrorism Committee was formed, and the fourth meeting of this committee was held yesterday in Iraq with the aim of following up on the resolutions."
He added: "During our visit to Iraq, we signed four agreements on the transfer of convicts, extradition of criminals, criminal cooperation, and civil cooperation, and met with the head of the Judiciary and other Iraqi judicial officials. We met with the Iraqi Attorney General on the issue of extradition of criminals; within the framework of the division of duties, we also met with the Iraqi Minister of Justice on the transfer of convicts."
While explaining the Iran-Iraq Anti-Terrorism Committee, Seraj stated: "The Deputy Head of the Iraqi Judiciary is the head of the anti-terrorism committee in this country, and the Vice President of the Judiciary and Secretary General of the High Council for Human Rights is the head of this committee in Iran. We raised and followed up on many issues, and fortunately, the high-ranking Iraqi judicial officials welcomed the topics raised very well."
Referring to the problems of Iranian pilgrims traveling to Iraq and following up on this issue, he stated: "One of the issues affecting our country is the issue of pilgrims throughout the year, especially during Arbaeen. Our pilgrims must have both an entry stamp and an exit stamp. Our pilgrims get an exit stamp from the Islamic Republic of Iran, but sometimes they do not get an entry stamp from Iraq, and this issue creates problems for our pilgrims. This issue creates problems for both the pilgrims themselves and the judicial system of the destination country."
Seraj continued: "Illegal entry into Iraq is punishable by imprisonment and conviction, and unfortunately, a number of our dear compatriots were caught. We met with the Head of the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq, the Attorney General, and the Minister of Justice of Iraq and raised issues. The commission of a crime has three elements, which are the legal element, the material element, and the spiritual element, which is the same as malicious intent. I emphasized that the spiritual element is certainly missing in relation to our arrested pilgrims."
The Secretary General of the High Council for Human Rights said: "With the Iraqi authorities welcoming the issues raised, God willing, extradition will take place soon. We have done the extradition issue on a limited basis several times. We recently transferred 50 prisoners to the country and there will be no problem with the rest. A good understanding was reached with the Iraqi side in this regard, and it was agreed that Iranian officials would justify our pilgrims and Iraqi official would emphasize to their border officers at the border that they must stamp the entry into Iraq on the passports of Iranian pilgrims."
In response to the question of what measures have been taken for people who have had problems in the past or recently, the Vice President of the Judiciary for International Affairs said: "We almost no longer have any problems with these pilgrims, almost all of their problems have been solved." Following the presence of the Iranian delegation in Karbala, upon the insistence of the Head of the Iraqi Judiciary, a meeting was also held with the Head of Karbala Judiciary and discussions were held regarding matters related to pilgrims. This process was also carried out in Najaf.