PRESS RELEASE
(New Haven, Connecticut, November 10, 2008) This new report from the IHRDC examines the Islamic Republic’s unlawful targeting and extrajudicial killing of political dissidents abroad.
The report complements two earlier publications, Murder at Mykonos: Anatomy of a Political Assassination (2007) and No Safe Haven: Iran’s Global Assassination Campaign (2008), in an effort to construct a powerful and comprehensive indictment, based on the rule of law, of Tehran’s campaign to assassinate political dissidents abroad. The regime’s orchestrated and systematic targeting and extrajudicial killing of its political opponents does not merely violate the criminal laws of the jurisdictions in which the assassinations took place – it also implicates an array of international legal norms and obligations protecting the most fundamental of human rights: the right to life.
The Islamic Republic’s campaign of assassinations can be traced to nearly twenty countries around the world, from neighboring Pakistan and Iraq to the United States. Case studies discussed in the two previous reports are but a sampling of the more than one hundred and sixty dissidents who dared challenge the clerical establishment’s grip on the country. The regime’s global campaign is, therefore, essentially an extension of its consolidation of power inside the country’s borders. It is an exercise in operational and psychological intimidation – a message to all dissidents seeking refuge abroad that the regime’s long reach is not limited by national boundaries.
The Islamic Republic, and any individuals involved in the ordering, instigating, planning, aiding and abetting or commission of these killings must be held to account for their actions by all member states of the international community. It is the hope of the IHRDC that, at the very least, this report and its companions inform, educate and inspire victims, human rights advocates, government authorities and members of the public to remain steadfast in their pursuit to bring those responsible for these violations to justice.
Condemned by Law: Assassination of Political Dissidents Abroad is currently available in English on IHRDC’s website at http://www.iranhrdc.org. A Farsi version of the report will be released by January 2009.
For further information please contact: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (203) 772-2218 info@iranhrdc.org