meeting on legal aspects of Gen. Soleimani martyrdom

A commemorative meeting titled “The Martyrdom Anniversary of Hajj Qassem Soleimani Examining the Legal Aspects and Judicial Prosecution of US Crimes” was held on Monday at the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies.

Mohammad Hassan Sheikh al-Eslami, the head of the Institute for Political and International Studies, Reza Najafi, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, an advisor to the foreign minister and the head of a special committee formed to follow up on General Qassem Soleimani’s assassination case from legal and international aspects, Tavakol Habibzadeh, the head of the Presidential Center for International Legal Affairs and a number of international law professors and experts participated in the meeting.

 Starting off, Sheikh al-Eslami highlighted the services provided by Martyr Soleimani. He noted that some diplomatic and judicial measures have been on Iran’s agenda ever since the US committed the crime in January 2020.

 “The big crime of assassinating Martyr Soleimani can be prosecuted at various courts due to the violation of the general principles of international law and various aspects of human rights,” he said.

 Sheikh al-Eslami further said the Institute for Political and International Studies has also taken special measures and has held meetings on various dimensions of Martyr Soleimani’s character as well as legal measures to follow up on his martyrdom case.

 Meanwhile, Najafi also underlined the efforts by Martyr Soleimani to boost cooperation with Iran’s diplomatic body, stating that, “the assassination of Martyr Soleimani breached international law and violated the United Nations’ Charter. So, what the US did will not go without consequences.”

 The Iranian deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs praised the special committee set up to follow up on General Soleimani’s assassination case from legal and international aspects for its efforts, saying the Iranian Foreign Ministry registered its legal stance at the UN from the very beginning and made efforts to prepare legal documents for proceedings in the case.

 For his part, Kadkhodaei expressed gratitude to the foreign ministry for its support and especially thanked Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian “who seriously followed up on Martyr Soleimani’s assassination case.”

He said, “General Soleimani’s actions were within the framework of Iran’s policies to defend the oppressed people in the region and as a result of his deeds, the spirit of resistance was boosted and legitimate defense spread in the region.”

The head of the special committee formed to follow up on General Qassem Soleimani’s assassination case underlined the measures taken by Tehran’s judiciary to pursue the matter, noting “the court has achieved good results in the legal and criminal aspects.”

Concluding his remarks, he said, “From the domestic aspect, the indictment in this regard has been presented to the court and the court is in the criminal investigation stage of the case. From the international aspect, after consulting foreign and international lawyers, we have made numerous correspondences to follow up the case, the results of which will soon be published.”

The meeting was held in two parts to discuss the legal aspects of the case of Soleimani’s martyrdom and following up on US crimes in terms of the domestic legal system’s capacities as well as the international legal system’s capacities.