Harboring Terrorists Have Nothing to Do with Human Rights, but It Is another Crime against Humanity

The Association for Defending Victims (ADVT) of Terrorism in collaboration with the Human Rights Committee of the Islamic Parliament of Iran, the Chair of Human Rights, Peace and Democracy of Shahid Beheshti University, Peace and Friendship Ambassadors and HAMI Association held an event entitled” Human Rights in the Shadow .”This event was organized on Human Rights Day attended by professors of international law, figures, human rights activists, students and families of martyrs.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Ghassem Zamani, faculty board of Allameh Tabataba’i University said that after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 both member states and non-member states were obliged to criminalize terrorism in their laws and cooperate with each other and not to avoid any act to fight the terrorists.

The law professor of international law continued, “Terrorism is perhaps one of the few concepts that has not been criminalized and we have to ask why the ICC has not criminalized it. If they do not mind impunity, other achievement of international goals will not be fruitful because there are still many of criminals who have been punished.”

In the end, he expressed the hope that one day human rights will be out of the shadows and true faith in human rights will be established.

Next, a video message from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the occasion of Human Rights Day was broadcast. At one part of this message we read, “Seventy-three years ago today, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The principles set out in this simple declaration remain the key to realizing all human rights – civil, economic, cultural, social and political – for all people, everywhere. The United Nations stands for the rights of every member of our human family. Today and every day, we will continue to work for justice, equality, dignity and human rights for all.”

We hope that all governments will condemn human rights violations, regardless of double standard policies

Next speaker, Dr. Hossein Mir Mohammad Sadeghi, director of the Center for Research and Chair of Human Rights, Peace and Democracy of UNESCO at Shahid Beheshti University stated that terrorism leads to human rights violations and many human rights laws are violated as a result of terrorism.

In another part of his speech the Shahid Beheshti University faculty member said, “The main problem is lack of unique definition of terrorism and we should reach to this point that what terrorism is defined by the international laws, it  should be defined terrorism for others as well. We hope violation of human rights is condemned by all governments regardless of the double standard policy.

 

Human rights are the concept of a right that is abused for invalid purposes

Then, Dr. Jafari, faculty member of Bu Ali University of Hamedan said, “Powerful countries are afraid of losing their means of political expansionism and therefore they disapprove of empowerment of international institutions such as the ICC. Most of the superpowers not only have not joined the ICC, but also acted against it.”

He continued to say, “One of the manifestations of the preference of politics over justice is the non-attachment of terrorism to war crimes and human rights are the concept of a right that is abused for invalid purposes. In the end, he said, we hope that human beings will find value as a whole and those human rights can come out of the shadows of politics and be a tool for the realization of the rights of the oppressed, whose rights are being violated in the world.

Grave crimes that affect the human conscience does not remain unpunished

Next, Dr. Bagher Shamloo, Shahid Beheshti University faculty member said that one of the important basic principles of ICC is prohibition of impunity. Grave crimes affect the human conscience and must not remain unpunished. All legal principles are to create a fair trial, but they should be restored and the prohibition of impunity would act against the new manifestations of systematic human rights violations.

He went on to say that economic sanctions are examples of a systematic violation of human rights. Cyber-attacks are also examples of criminal behavior caused by changes in technology. And the third case is the assassination of scientists of a country. These actions are examples of crimes against humanity because they affect many people.

In another part of his speech, Dr. Shamloo said, “We must move in the direction of measuring the degree of crime and examining the harmful effects of any behavior in the global realm based on the extent of the damage. And we need to evaluate cases of human rights violations with more accurate criteria and turn them into doctrines against the doctrines presented by the United States.”

Human rights in international organizations have become tools of pressure against independent governments

In another part of the event, Dr. Nader Norouzi, a faculty member of Shahid Beheshti University, stated that unfortunately, human rights have become a tool for trampling on human rights in the world.”

He continued, “One of the main principles in human rights is equality before the law, but unfortunately, the affairs in organizations that even have the name of human rights has progressed in a way that has led to discrimination in the application of human rights rules.

He concluded by saying that today human rights have become a tool to put pressure on nations that want to be independent, and this can be considered a threat to human rights against human rights . Human rights in international organizations have become a tool against other nations and have led to pressure on freedom-loving countries.

 

West does not seek morality to govern society, but to benefit

In another part of the meeting, Mr. Eric Walberg, the Canadian political analyst, said in a video message that human rights in the Western sense destroys natural resources and this is the problem of the kind of our society. To talk about this, we must first address economics .

He continued, “Western economic is based on interests and where their interests are provided, the money, it is considered good and people can follow it. The West do not seek moral values for governing the society, but they pursue their benefit. Our sense of human rights in Western society is all based on genocide. The West have killed 90 percent of people in Canada who lived in harmony with nature.

Finally, he said, “Western abstract concept of the human rights and their position is only important when you solve the problem of capitalism that is destroying the world. We need a right balance in law to ensure a natural world that is not destroying the world.”

Media such as BBC, Iran International and VOA play a major role in distorting the truth about human rights and psychological warfare in countries

Next speaker, Alexander Azadgan, geopolitical senior analyst from the United States said that we in America, have the illusion of truth, not the truth itself.

He continued, “Persian media outside Iran are mainly located in London and the most important of them include BBC Persian, Iran International and Voice of America which is in U.S. The media plays a major role in changing the truth about human rights and psychological warfare in countries including Iran.

In cases such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign intervention has exacerbated the human rights situation

In another part of the meeting, Dr. Fatemeh Ashrafi of HAMI said that in the debate about human rights and immigration, the issue of enforced migration should be addressed. This phenomenon in recent decades is not just a human rights phenomenon, but that is more in a political cycle and we have to pay more attention to their political background than to the aspects of human rights.

She went on to say that in cases such as Rwanda, the changes in the Balkans and in Iraq, it can be seen that after foreign interventions, not only human rights problems have not diminished, but they have increased. Latin America, Syria and the crisis in Afghanistan are the recent cases.

In another part of her speech, the head of the HAMI stated that foreign intervention in Afghanistan was carried out under the pretext of expanding human rights and civil liberties, but the practical result was the continuation of the refugee crisis and even the US political negotiations did not come to an end and we witnessed the handover of power to the Taliban, which led to massive human movements from Afghanistan to neighboring countries.

Dr. Ashrafi concluded, “unfortunately, over the years, countries that have considered themselves human rights leaders have sought to restrict asylum and transfer it to neighboring countries under the heading of national interests, which can disappoint the social balance in these countries.

Human rights can be the liberator of nations

Dr. Mehdi Zakerian, professor at the Science and Research Tehran Branch of Azad University, said, “Human rights are a civilized achievement of humanity, and the Declaration of Human Rights should be considered a universal declaration of human rights. Human rights can liberate nations and bind governments.

He concluded by saying that many of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are Iranian and Islamic. By educating and benefiting from the global cyber conscience and using the experiences of international organizations, we can counter governments’ double standards on human rights.

 

The Dutch government disagree with the request of the families of the victims of Hafte Tir bombing to clarify the truth in the case of the terrorist killed in the Netherlands 

In another part of event Dr. Heybatollah Najandimanesh, professor of international law at Allameh Tabataba’i University said, according to international conventions granting asylum to terrorists and those criminals who committed crimes against humanity have been banned, but we see that the western countries have become a safe haven for terrorists and criminal groups.

He went on to say that, for example, in the Netherlands, there are groups such as Al-Ahwaz and groups whose terrorist acts are known, such as the MEK (Hypocrites). Also, if you want to see a representative of a terrorist group, you can just go to Sweden.

The professor of international law concluded that one of the cases that the ADVT was facing was the case of the group of Hypocrites and Ali Motamed (the perpetrator of Hafte Tir terrorist tragedy) who had taken refuge in this country despite the awareness of the Dutch government and they disagree with the request of the victims’ families for the right to the truth. This shows the instrumental use of human rights and the attitude of Western countries towards human rights that has led to the destruction of the sanctity of human rights.

At the end of the meeting, some of the victims of terrorism narrated human rights violations by terrorists. In a part of it, wife of martyr Kouhsar Fatehi said that Kouhsar was a hard-working member of the Kurdish Red Crescent in who participated at the humanitarian the activities of the Red Crescent. Kouhsar Fatehi returned home on Friday, 20 July 2018 after finishing his work and prepared to go on another mission. He was going to the border post by an ambulance, when the PJAK terrorist group assassinated him by firing 41 bullets at the car and he was martyred.

In another part of the meeting, Ms. Elham Jalizavi, the daughter of martyr Jalal Jalizavi, stated that “My father was martyred in 1999 with the fragments of mortars of the Hypocrites. It’s still unclear to me why this happened to us. We had faced many economic and psychological problems. Later, at a restorative justice meeting at the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism, one of the remorseful members of the Hypocrites stated that Mahvash Sepehri was the coordinator of these attacks in December 1999 in Ahvaz, who is now in Germany. On Human Rights Day, I would like to tell the German government that sheltering terrorists has nothing to do with human rights, but is another crime against humanity.

Then, Mohammad Beit Salem stated, “In 1999 we were crossing the Naderi Bridge in Ahvaz when I was wounded by a mortar attack of the Hypocrites along with with all my family members.” His doctor also mentioned about Mr. Beit Salem’s injury, “I am Dr. Alireza Sadeghi, an orthopedic specialist. Mr. Mohammad Beit Salem was severely injured in his left lower limb, especially his leg and feet. He had fractures and infection. He was seven years old at the time of the attack. They came to the hospital and we had a team of plastic surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and an infectious disease specialist. He underwent surgery twelve times and the leg that was to be amputated below the knee in Ahvaz was saved thanks to God and the efforts of Mr. Mohammad Beit Salem.

Also in this event, the statement of the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism “Human Rights in the Shadow” was read by one of the victims of terrorism. Then professors working in the field and in defense of human rights of victims of terrorism and countering terrorism were honored with plaques and gifts.