Exploding pagers in Lebanon is against international rules and humanitarian law
Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism organized a meeting entitled "Misuse of modern technologies as a terrorist act" in cooperation with the community of Iranian lawyers who defend human rights, the society of selfless lawyers of the Tehran judiciary and the International Association of Social Work Faculties and with the presence of university professors, human rights activists and families of victims of terrorism, held on October 19,2024.
At the beginning of the meeting, Ms. Anahita Seifi, a professor at Allameh Tabatabai University, said about the threats of new technologies that, new technologies allow terrorism to commit terrorist acts with low cost and high access, and this situation is the danger of misuse of new technologies by It increases terrorist movements. She continued, terrorist threats on the Internet have troubled even developed countries.
Allameh Tabatabai University faculty member said in another part of her speech that all the characteristics of terrorism are also present in cyber terrorism. including widespread destruction and creating terror in the society. Cyber terrorism can strengthen other types of terrorism. And the importance of this matter is for this reason. She went on to say that in the global internet space, the definition of power has changed and cyber terrorism can cause much more extensive destruction than other types of terrorism.
Dr. Seifi went on to say that in international humanitarian law, the principles of humanitarian law follow the Martinez principle, according to which the rights of civilians should be considered based on the principle of humanity. In the case of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, we can also take this principle into consideration and consider human aspects in armed conflicts and limit the use of artificial intelligence and new technologies to principles such as the Martinez principle and regularity. Regarding the issue of exploding pagers, since the principle of separation between military and civilian people has not been made, for this reason, this action is against international rules, a violation of human rights, and a violation of humanitarian rights.
In the continuation of the meeting, Haibatullah Najandi Manesh, a professor at Allameh Tabatabai University, said that international legal rules were established to regulate behavior, and by the way, terrorists are those who do not follow these rules of the game. He further said that the technologies used in detonating pagers were of a civilian nature, and the use of detonating pagers in Lebanon by the Zionist regime was a military action using a civilian tool, and for this reason, this action is against international rules.
In another part of the meeting, Nader Haji Ali Khameseh, a researcher of international law, referring to the dangers and threats of using new technologies for terror, especially the use of this artificial intelligence technology by the Zionist regime in creating terror, said: the role of artificial intelligence in terrorism is a threat. It is emerging and it should be noted how this industry can be dangerous in terrorism. The important thing about the targeted assassination campaign of the Zionist regime is that this regime makes extensive use of artificial intelligence technologies in order to achieve its goals.
He further said that cyber terrorism is a serious threat in the digital world. We must take the lead and create international cooperation. One of the main motivations of financial and political cyber terrorism and hacking government or private servers to access sensitive information for use in terrorist activities is the solution to countering cyber terrorism, strengthening cyber security and developing defense technologies.
In another part of the meeting, Haj Ali Khamseh said that the assassinations carried out in different countries have threatened global order and security. On the other hand, if we cannot trust new technologies such as mobile phones as a new and necessary technology, either the country will lag behind or the use of technology will be scary.
This international law expert criticized the double behavior of European countries in dealing with human rights issues and stated that, in such a situation, it is the duty of Islamic countries to follow up and deal with the crimes of the Zionists, and at least they should have the necessary budget and credit to deal with these crimes. to provide
In the continuation of the meeting, Joseph Wronka, a professor at Springfield University from America, referring to the martyrdom of 42 people in the explosion of pagers in Lebanon, asked who is responsible in this regard? Will the perpetrators of this crime be the same as the war criminals of the Nazi Party who committed crimes by misusing Zyklon-B gas? Most of the data now points to Israel being their main arms supplier, along with my country, the United States of America.
He continued, what should we do now? I suggest that we think and act both proactively and reactively, that is, both preventively, before the fact, and therapeutically, after the fact. I believe that the problem as always is the fact that when human development is thwarted and human needs are suppressed, it can lead to despair and then violence. I now think of the decades of extremely high unemployment among my Palestinian brothers and sisters. This should be added to today’s hunger, thirst and diseases caused by the wars in the Middle East.
Joseph Wronka went on to say that from a reactive perspective, the community including governments, non-governmental organizations, health professionals, lawyers and ultimately anyone interested in helping their neighbor should provide adequate health care and continuous support physically, emotionally and provide immediate financial assistance to the victims so that they can live a life with human dignity and their human needs are met. Finally, criminals must be tried according to the law.
In another part of the meeting, Mr. Eduardo Toledo, a researcher of international law from Argentina, said that we must keep in mind that a victim is a person who has been deprived of his rights and to defend the victims against terrorism. If we do not protect, terrorist incidents will continue.
It is worth mentioning that the communication with non-Iranian experts was done online and the meeting was also published through Sky Room.