International Committee of Lawyers to Defend Victims of Crackdown in Iran

NCRI – In a press conference on Thursday in Paris, it was announced that an international committee of jurists has been formed to defend the rights of the victims of the crackdown on the month-long Iran uprising.
The International Committee of Jurists in Defense of Victims of Crackdown on Iran Uprising is comprised of a number of distinguished lawyers in Europe and North America with the objective of informing the world public of the atrocities of the Iranian regime against its own citizens in the post-election turmoil, many of which are considered to be crimes against humanity.
The Committee will take further steps to pursue its objectives including taking legal action against those responsible for such crimes.
The conference was chaired by Jean Pierre Spitzer, who said in his opening remarks that gravity of the situation in Iran requires the intervention of the United Nations and that they intend to submit such a request to the Secretary General.
The renowned French jurists and chair of the newly formed committee, William Bourdon was the first speaker who said, “We want to break the law of impunity for the leaders of the Iranian regime. We also want to urge national and international judicial authorities and organs to take up the atrocities perpetrated by the Iranian regime because in our view, they are crimes against humanity.”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elected of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, also addressed the conference. Referring to the Iranian people’s uprising, she said this is the beginning of the end of the clerical regime and called on Western governments not to recognize the sham election, halt all diplomatic ties, impose comprehensive sanctions and a ban on foreign travel for the regime’s officials until the suppression is ended and a free UN-supervised election is held in Iran.
In his remarks, Prof. Eric David, President of the Institute of International Law at the Free University of Brussels, noted, “Based on Article 7 of the status of the International Criminal Court, the crimes the Iranian regime has perpetrated during the month-long uprising contain the elements of crimes against humanity, because they include murder, unlawful imprisonment and torture in the context of a general and systematic assault on a civilian population.”
It was announced at the conference that so far 300 protesters had been killed by the security forces, many of them while in detention and 10,000 had been arrested. A list of names of 74 killed and 918 detained during the uprising was made public for the first time.
French Senator and a former judge Jean-Pierre Michel, Jean Pierre Brard, member of the French National Assembly, renowned French lawyer Thiery Levy, Belgian lawyer Georges Henri Beauthier, Vice President of Berlin’s Bar Association, Brend Haeusler, Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria, Mr. Jens Christian Lund, member of the Danish Parliament, Mr. Antonio Stango, President of Helsinki Watch in Italy, Mr. Mario Lana, President of Italian Jurists for the Protection of Human Rights, were among the speakers in the Conference.
Photo: Maryam Rajavi (3rd R), head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), attends a news conference with members of the International Commission of Jurists Georges Henri Beauthier of Belgium, Jean-Pierre Spitzer and William Bourdon of France and Professor Eric David of Britain (L-R), in Paris July 16, 2009. Rajavi held the conference to denounce the Iranian government’s handling of the post-election protests and called on western and Iranian lawyers to seek the prosecution of members of the regime.