On July 1, 2024,  at the Free Iran 2024 World Summit – Day 3 hosted at the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) headquarters in Paris, Tahar Boumedra, former chief of the UN human rights mission in Iraq and co-founder of JVMI, addressed the audience, emphasizing the importance of universal jurisdiction in achieving justice for Iran’s political prisoners.

1. Former UN Human Rights Chief Tahar Boumedra Hails Victories Against Iranian Regime's Human Rights Abuses #MaryamRajavi4FreeIran #FreeIran2024 https://t.co/0tgaOwfR6j

— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) July 1, 2024

The full text of Tahar Boumedra’s speech follows:

I would like first to speak to my brothers and sisters in Ashraf 3 and also to all the brothers and sisters in Iran and indeed all over the world. In fact, I don’t know whether I’ve been privileged to speak the last in this forum or if it’s a punishment, it could be either, but let me say that in 2018 we met in Ashraf 3, and at the time we were trying to identify what avenues are available to seek accountability and I was advocating that the easiest and the only, probably given the world legal order, the only available avenue was the universal jurisdiction.

Indeed time has proved me right because the first perpetrator of the extra legal and extrajudicial executions that took place in 1988 against political prisoners was held in Stockholm under the universal jurisdiction. It’s a victory.

Brothers and sisters in Ashraf 3, you should celebrate. Brothers and sisters in Iran, you should celebrate because it’s a great victory. And don’t you ever think that sending or bargaining, negotiating with the Iranian regime, and sending Hamid Noury back to Iran, don’t you think it’s a loss or a defeat? No, it’s another success. So, in fact, we achieved two victories for the price of one.

We have a judicial decision condemning Hamid Noury to life imprisonment for his crimes and their international law. And the second victory is that we have revealed the kind of appeasements governments are prepared for.

It’s the same thing that happened in Belgium. A terrorist was condemned to 20 years in prison. But there were negotiations and Asadollah Assadi was sent back to Iran. Here again, we got two victories for the price of one. Because on one hand, Asadollah Assadi was condemned by an independent court of law. On the other hand, we have discovered the kind of deals, political deals, governments are prepared for.

Now, I am one of those people who benefited a lot from the contributions of the European Union to the promotion and protection of human rights. But when I see this kind of practice of governments, I get disappointed. I am very disappointed in the sense that independent courts of law make this kind of judgment and then the governments undermine their own judicial system.

So, both governments in Sweden and Belgium, first of all, they undermined their own legal system, their judicial system, and also they spent the taxpayers’ money for the end to send back criminals, and condemned criminals back to Iran.

So, this is why I would like to say to the brothers and sisters in Ashraf and in Iran that we need to celebrate these victories and we need to keep in mind that the MEK had never lost a case before a court of law.

They were listed as terrorists by these political decisions and they were delisted by a court of law. In America, in the United Kingdom, in Europe, everywhere it was always a decision, a judicial decision that cleared them.

So, today we see Hamid Noury and Asadullah Asadi going back to Iran. That’s not a victory. They went back as criminals condemned by an independent court of law, and they were sent back to Iran because of political deals. So, this is the reason for us to be able to celebrate these victories and I’m sure other victories are on the way.

Thank you very much.