By: Bob Blackman MP
Earlier in September, the UN Secretary General sent the
latest report of the Special Rapporteur on Iran’s human rights to the General
Assembly for discussion. The August 14 report provides a detailed account of a
series of serious abuses that were carried out by the Iranian authorities in
the past year year.
But this year's report is unique compared with previous
reports because the Special Rapporteur highlights the massacre of thousands of
political prisoners in 1988. The report documents the direct involvement of
senior Iranian officials and current ministers in carrying out and defending
these mass executions as well as the authorities’ efforts to destroy evidence
of mass graves and to harass, intimidate and prosecute those who seek truth and
justice.
On September 21, the UN Security Council adopted a historic
resolution proposed by the UK to bring Daesh to justice. According to the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office statement, “the resolution was passed by the
Security Council following a letter written to the UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres from the Iraqi Prime Minister and Foreign Minister requesting
international support of Iraqi efforts to bring Daesh to justice.”
This shows that Britain is in a strong position to lead
the demand for justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre in Iran, if it has
the political will and moral courage.
Despite their claims of moderation and calls to action by
the UN Special Rapporteur, neither Iranian President Hassan Rouhani nor Foreign
Minister Javad Zarif are willing or able to make a similar request of the UN
Secretary General regarding the 1988 massacre. In lieu of this, the Foreign
Secretary, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson, could send a letter on behalf of the
Government requesting international support of the efforts by the victims’
families and Iranian human rights defenders to bring the perpetrators of the
massacre to justice.
Furthermore, the Government should work with its allies
at the UN to ensure that any planned UN resolution on the human rights
situation calls for an international investigation into these mass executions
as a vital step toward holding the perpetrators to account and reaffirming our
backing for the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran.
In the previous parliament, 80 MPs from multiple parties
supported Early Day Motion 448, which urged the Government to “recognise and
condemn this brutal massacre as a crime against humanity and ask the UN Human
Rights Commissioner, Human Rights Council, the General Assembly and the
Security Council to order an investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
In a press conference with his American counterpart in
London on September 14, the Foreign Secretary said, “… we in the UK think it
very important that Iran, that country of 80 million people, many of them
young, potentially liberal, could be won over – could be won over to a new way
of thinking.”
During the last presidential elections, Iranian society
and particularly the younger generation demanded the prosecution of those
responsible for the 1988 massacre, one of the worst crimes in the history of
the theocratic regime. They would surely prefer Britain helping them secure
justice rather than applauding Britain’s support for a fallible nuclear
agreement that showers the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with cash
and sanctions relief that the paramilitary force can use to further intensify
the vicious domestic crackdown on human rights defenders and women’s rights
activists under Rouhani’s tenure.
As the FCO Minister for Middle East, the Rt Hon Alistair
Burt reminded the UN Security Council meeting in his statement on the adoption
of the Daesh Resolution, “’The millstones of justice turn exceeding slow, but
they grind exceeding fine.’ Those millstones have begun moving today.”
For Iranians for the pursuit of justice begun 29 years
ago amid the “global denial” of these mass executions. Our government now has
the means to help the Iranian people realise their destiny.
Bob Blackman is the Conservative Member of Parliament for
Harrow East
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