{"id":48322,"date":"2023-07-26T03:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T01:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=48322"},"modified":"2023-07-25T18:32:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T16:32:24","slug":"remarks-by-jvmi-co-founder-tahar-boumedra-to-the-free-iran-world-summit-2023-on-july-3-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/1988-massacre\/2023\/07\/remarks-by-jvmi-co-founder-tahar-boumedra-to-the-free-iran-world-summit-2023-on-july-3-2023\/48322\/","title":{"rendered":"Remarks by JVMI Co-founder Tahar Boumedra, to the Free Iran World Summit 2023, on July 3, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Dr. — ^{Dr. Tahar Boumedra, Chief of the Human Rights Office of United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) (2009-2012), JVMI Chair<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nTahar Boumedra, Chief of the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) (2009-2012), JVMI Chair, addressed the third day<\/a> of the Free Iran World Summit on July 3, 2023. The summit was under the title: Prosecute Iran\u2019s Regime Leaders for Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tahar Boumedra: Justice and Rule of Law Will Prevail in Iran<\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe full script of Mr. Tahar Boumedra\u2019s speech follows:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThank you. Madam Rajavi<\/a>, President of the NCRI<\/a>, brothers, and sisters, friends, I would like to speak to you today on behalf of the families of the victims of the massacre of 1988 political prisoners<\/a>. And as one of the founders of the association called JVMI<\/a>, Justice for the Victims of the 1988 massacre<\/a> in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would like to just give you an idea of how I got to know the Ashrafis, the Mujahedin because I spent my career in Africa. And when I went to Iraq, I knew nothing about the Iranian Resistance movement, and I knew nothing about the Mujahedin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when I arrived to Iraq, I was given an induction course about my mission as Chief of the Human Rights Office of the United Nations in Iraq. It\u2019s a mission undertaken under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, so that gave me the power to access all the places I want to visit. And during that induction, I was warned to be careful about those people living in Camp Ashraf. So, I had no doubt, and I could not put in doubt my colleagues, my UN colleagues\u2019 advice that I have to be careful because I have to deal with a group of terrorists. That was sometime in February 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then I went on with my mission with all the required professionalism, objectivity, and independence, and I observed for myself and also within my mission I was an advisor to the government of Iraq on issues of human rights. So I listened to all parties, Iraqis, the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, and I visited on a weekly basis Camp Ashraf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I came to the conclusion based on my own personal observations that whatever comes to me through the Ashrafis turned out to be right. And anything that reaches me through particularly the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, the Iraqi Prime Minister\u2019s Office, and the Iranian embassy in Baghdad was a\u2026 they always try to denigrate these people and all the denigration always turned out to be wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So not to go too far in telling you my story with Ashraf, but I was really put in a situation where I couldn\u2019t continue my mission in Iraq because I was treated by the United Nations as if I carry the virus of cholera. I was isolated, I was put under pressure, life became so hard, and probably my life on the UN Mission was more difficult than those who were in Camp Ashraf. So I had to resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when I left Iraq, I went back to England and I met a number of British lawyers and we decided to establish JVMI in order to give a voice to the families of the victims and to the survivors of the prosecution. So we established a plan of action and we put as a program for JVMI the documentation of the crimes perpetrated not only in 1988, but also the ongoing crimes that went on. And that\u2019s the people living in Camp Ashraf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know that during the 1988 massacre<\/a>, there was a blackout. The information didn\u2019t come out straight away from Tehran. Mr. Massoud Rajavi did contact the United Nations and informed them about at the time about 800 victims already. And the Agence France-Presse, AFP, started talking about some movements, strange movements in the prisons, and night movements. So there was already an alert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the families of the victims started powering communications to the then special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran. The then special rapporteur and you all know in the 80s the human rights system within the United Nations was still embryonic, the mechanism we know today did not exist. And after a very shy report produced by the then-special rapporteur, the whole issue went into oblivion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nobody spoke about it for years. But at the beginning of 2000, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri wrote his memoirs and revealed lots of things, and revealed how Khomeini has decided to get rid of the opposition by all means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And one of the letters, probably you\u2019ll find it in a document before you, one of the letters said to the son, from Khomeini to his son when his son asked about what to do about these prisoners, he replied, \u201cKill them all. Do not waste time on procedural matters. Just kill them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So here we are, the supreme leader Khomeini decided to openly call for a crime against humanity, a crime that could even amount to genocide. And it was not just for the Iranian opposition. You also remember the case of, [the person] who wrote this book about Rushdie, Salman Rushdie. For his book, Khomeini decided that he should be killed. And he gave the mandate to anyone, not necessarily the judicial or the police, anyone who gets hold of Rushdie, should kill him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, we could see that it\u2019s a regime, it\u2019s a system that is there to commit serious crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes that could be counted among the crimes of genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations, after so many years of keeping quiet about what happened in Iran against the political prisoners, the JVMI decided to revive public awareness of what really happened. JVMI, based on the expertise of international lawyers, used very high standards for evidence and wrote a report naming over 70 leaders who participated in the implementation of Khomeini\u2019s fatwa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we know, we are very aware that the list is very, very long of suspect perpetrators. But we also know that crimes against humanity and genocide, are very, very serious crimes. And therefore, we did not want to point out people that might turn out to be innocent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, we used very high UN standards for identifying the suspect perpetrators. And that was published in two books. The second one, the second book, is a book that identified the places, the geographical locations of mass graves. And we went around in Geneva and everywhere, knocking on every door of the United Nations and the diplomatic community. We gave them reports, we gave them the evidence, and we called for the establishment of an independent international commission for inquiring about these crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nDr. Tahar Boumedra, JVMI Chair:
The @jvmifoundation<\/a> decided to revive public awareness on what really happened. Our investigation is based on the expertise of international lawyers.#1988Massacre<\/a> #FreeIran2023<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/jrqP9KifNy<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) July 21, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>}