Document Type : Academicm and Research
Author
Assistant Professor, Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law & Political Science, Allameh Tabatabai` University.
10.22091/csiw.2020.5417.1791
Abstract
On 3 January 2020, USA government assassinated an Iranian high-ranking military official and some of his companions by a drone near the Baghdad Airport. This act of USA was conducted by the direct order of its president. This article has dealt with this question whether assassination of Major General Soleimani and his colleagues can be legally characterized as a crime against humanity? To answer this question, the author has tried to analyze and examine the subject in the light of the relevant international law documents and case-law. According to the findings of this research, given the illegitimate and protracted US sanctions against the Iranian nation as a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population (including the ill persons) in accordance or to further the US policy, the assassination of General Soleimani and other Iranian nationals as a part of this widespread and organized attack may be qualified as a crime against humanity. In accordance with the finding of this article, it is suggested that good cause evidence and documents be provided for proving that the US is committing course of conduct as a widespread or systematic attack against the Iranian population. It is necessary that more researches concentrate on this subject and specifically on US sanctions against Iranian people
Keywords
1) دلاورپور اقدم، مصطفی،1390 ش، واکاوی تحریم های آمریکا علیه جمهوری اسلامی ایران در قالب تحلیل گفتمان، دفتر سیاسی، مرکز پژوهش های مجلس شورای اسلامی، شماره مسلسل 10918.
2) عاملی، سعیدرضا ، محسنی آهویی، ابراهیم ،1398 ش ، فقدان مشروعیت قانونی- بین المللی تحریم و نقض حقوق بشر، موسسه اسلامی حقوق بشر.
3) غمامی، سید محمدمهدی،1392ش، تحلیل گفتمان ضد حقوقی تحریم های آمریکا علیه دولت ایران، فصلنامه مطالعات حقوق بشر اسلامی، سال دوم، ش4.
4) Ambos, Kai (2014), Treatise on International Criminal Law, Vol. II, Oxford University Press.
5) Background Briefing on President Trump’s Decision to Withdraw from the JCPOA” (special briefing, Washington, D.C., May 8,2018). www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/05/281959.htm.
6) Bassiouni, M. Cherif (1999), Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
7) Carter, Barry E., (1987) International Economic Sanctions: Improving the Haphazard U.S. Legal Regime, 75Cal. L. Rev. 1159.
8) Chesterman, Simon (2000), An Altogether Different Order: Defining the Elements of Crimes Against Humanity, Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law, 10: 37.
9) Chomsky, Noam (2016), The US is One of the Most Fundamentalist Countries in the World, Interview by Meera Srinivasan, The Wire. Available at: https://chomsky.info/01312016/
10) Cortright, David, A. Millar, and G.A. Lopez, (2001), Smart Sanctions: Restructuring UN Policy on Iraq, Goshen, IN: Fourth Freedom Forum.
11) Cortright, David, and G.A. Lopez, (2000), Learning from the Sanctions Decade, Global Dialogue, 2(3).
12) Cryer, Robert et al. (2014), An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Cambridge University Press.
13) DeGuzman, Margaret McAuliffe (2000), The Road from Rome: The Developing Law of Crimes against Humanity, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 2.
14) Elements of Crimes, General Introduction, (2011) para. 9 available at: https://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/336923D8-A6AD-40EC-AD7B-45BF9DE73D56/0/ElementsOfCrimesEng.pdf
15) Farer, Tom J. (1985) Political and Economic Coercion in Contemporary International Law, 79 American Journal of International Law.
16) Gorji, Ali (2013) Health Care: Medical Supplies in Iran Hit by Sanctions, Nature, 495 (7441).
17) Hwang, Phyllis (1998), Defining Crimes against Humanity in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 22 Fordham International Law Journal, 457.
18) ICJ, Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and consular Rights, (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America), Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures, order of 3 October, 2018.
19) Jazairy, Idris (2019), Unilateral Economic Sanctions, International Law, and Human Rights, Ethics and International Affairs, 33, no. 3.
20) Katzman, Kenneth (2016) Iran Sanctions, January 12. available at:.
21) Kress, Claus (2010), On the Outer Limits of Crimes against Humanity: The Concept of Organization within the Policy Requirement: Some Reflections on the March 2010 ICC Kenya Decision, 23 Leiden Journal of International Law.
22) Mettraux, Guenael (2002), Crimes Against Humanity in the Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, Harvard International Law Journal, 43.
23) Pégorier, Clotilde (2013), Ethnic Cleansing: A Legal Qualification, Routledge.
24) Pilkington, Ed (2018), Mike Pompeo Insists US Sanctions Will Not Hurt Iranian People, Guardian, November 4, 2018. www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/04/pompeo-trump-us-sanctionsoil-iran-iranian-people.
25) Poe, Steven C., and N. Tate (1994), Repression of Human Rights to Personal Integrity in the 1980s: A Global Analysis, American Political Science Review, 88(4).
26) Poe, Steven C., N. Tate, and L.C. Keith (1999), Repression of the Human Right to Personal Integrity Revisited, International Studies Quarterly, 43(2).
27) Pompeo, Mike (2018), After the Deal: A New Iran Strategy (remarks, Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., May 21, 2018),www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/05/282301.htm.
28) Pre-Trial Chamber II, Situation in the Republic of Kenya, 2010, No. ICC-01/09-19, Decision Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute on the Authorization of an Investigation into the Situation in the Republic of Kenya.
29) Prosecutor v Karemera et al., 2012, No. ICTR-man98-44-T.
30) Prosecutor v Kayishema and Ruzindana, 1999, No. ICTR-95-1-T.
31) Prosecutor v Kunarac et al., 2002, No. IT-96-23-T & IT-96-23/1-T.
32) Prosecutor v Kupreškić et al., 2000, No. IT-95-16-T.
33) Prosecutor v Lukić and Lukić, 2009, No. IT-98-32/1-T.
34) Prosecutor v Mrkšić et al., 1996, No. IT-95-13-R61.
35) Prosecutor v Nahimana et al., 2007, No. ICTR-99-52-A.
36) Prosecutor v Nikolić, 1995, No. IT-94-2-R61.
37) Prosecutor v Rutaganda, 1999, No. ICTR-96-3-T.
38) Prosecutor v. Akayesu, 1998, No. ICTR-96-4-T.
39) Prosecutor v. Bemba, 2016, No.: ICC-01/05-01/08.
40) Prosecutor v. Ðorðevic’, 2014, No. IT-05-87/1-A.
41) Prosecutor V. Gbagbo, 2014, No.ICC-02/11-01/11.
42) Prosecutor V. Katanga and Ngudjolo Chui, 2008, No. ICC-01/04-01/07.
43) Prosecutor v. Katanga, 2014, No. ICC-01/04-01/07.
44) Prosecutor v. Kordic’ and Cˇ erkez, 2004, No. IT-95-14/2-A, 17.
45) Prosecutor v. Krnojelac, 2002, No. IT-97-25-T.
46) Prosecutor v. Musema, 2000, No. ICTR-96-13-T.
47) Prosecutor V. Ntaganda, 2012, No. ICC-01/04-02/06.
48) Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaškić, 2000, No. IT-95-14-T.
49) Prosecutor v.Tadić, (1997), No. IT-94-1-T.
50) R v. Finta [1994] 1 S.C.R. 701.
51) Roberts, Christopher (2017), On the Definition of Crimes Against Humanity and other Widespread or Systematic Human Rights Violations, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change, Vol. 20. 1.
52) Robinson, D Darryl (1999), Defining “Crimes Against Humanity” at the Rome Conference, American Journal of International Law, 93.
53) Rome Statute, 17 July 1998, in force on 1 July 2002, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2187, No. 38544.
54) Sandoz, Yves et al eds. (1987), Commentary on the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
55) Schabas, William (2008), State Policy as an Element of International Crimes, 98 J. Crim. L.&Criminology.
56) Stalls, Justin D., (2003) Economic Sanctions, 11 U. Miami Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 115.
57) UN Doc. S/Res/1302 (8 June 2000).
58) UN Doc. S/Res/661 (6 Aug. 1990).
59) UN Doc. S/Res/687 (3 Apr. 1991).
60) UN Doc. S/Res/757 (30 March 1992).
61) UN Doc. S/Res/820 (17 April 1993).
62) UN Doc. S/Res/967 (14 Dec. 1994).
63) United Nations General Assembly, “Human Rights and Unilateral Coercive Measures,” A/70/345, August 28, 2015, undocs.org/A/70/345.
64) United Nations General Assembly, “Human Rights and Unilateral Coercive Measures,” A/70/345.
65) United Nations General Assembly, “Research-Based Progress Report of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee Containing Recommendations on Mechanisms to Assess the Negative Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights and to Promote Accountability,” A/HRC/28/74, February 10, 2015, undocs.org/A/HRC/28/74.
66) Weiss, Thomas G. (1999), Sanctions as a Foreign Policy Tool: Weighing Humanitarian Impulses, Journal of Peace Research, 36(5).
67) Weiss, Thomas G., D. Cortright, G.A. Lopez, and L. Minear, (eds. 1997), Political Gain and Civilian Pain: Humanitarian Impacts of Economic Sanctions. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
)
Send comment about this article