A complaint filed in Switzerland on Monday calls on authorities to arrest the Iranian president during a trip to Geneva planned for this week and charge him with crimes against humanity over the mass executions of opponents in 1988.
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Ebrahim Raïssi was scheduled to attend the United Nations Global Refugee Forum taking place December 13-15 in Geneva, but the United Nations announced Monday evening that Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian would lead the Iranian delegation.
The Iranian president may therefore not make the trip.
The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a United Nations agency, told AFP: “Iran is a member state of the United Nations and is therefore invited to the Global Refugee Forum.”
“Iran has also been one of the largest refugee-hosting countries for over 40 years,” a spokesman said in an email, adding that “the Iranian delegation is led by the foreign minister.”
The complaint, a copy of which was seen by AFP and dated Monday, calls on the Confederation's Attorney General Andreas Müller to proceed with the arrest of the Iranian president and his indictment “for his involvement in genocide, torture, extrajudicial executions and other crimes against humanity.
It was submitted by three former Iranian prisoners.
Human rights groups have long campaigned for justice for thousands of extrajudicial killings in Iranian prisons in the summer of 1988, shortly after the war with Iraq.
The victims were mainly supporters of the People's Mojahedin (MEK), which was banned in Iran and which had supported Baghdad during the conflict.
The plaintiffs claim they can personally identify the Iranian president as a member of the “death commission” that ordered the executions.
International campaign
The lead plaintiff, Reza Shemirani, was arrested in 1981 and is one of about 150 of 5,000 prisoners held at his prison who survived the purge, the lawsuit says. He remained there until 1991, suffering daily torture.
Iranian opponents in exile have already made similar complaints in Britain and New York.
In parallel with this legal complaint, an international campaign was launched to protest against the Iranian president's possible presence at the refugee forum and to demand criminal prosecution.
“His presence at the United Nations Forum contradicts the fundamental values defended by the United Nations,” denounces a petition that has collected more than 200 signatures, including Nobel Prize winners, judges, former ministers, parliamentarians, academics and UN Human rights experts.
“We firmly believe that the United Nations, as a bastion of human rights and justice, should not jeopardize its reputation by inviting a person accused of serious human rights violations,” says the petition calling on the United Nations , “to cancel quickly”. his invitation to Mr. Raïssi.”
The signatories also stated that they “support the call for the investigation and prosecution of Ebrahim Raïssi for his involvement in past and present crimes under international law, including by States exercising universal jurisdiction.”