Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi once again denounced the assassination of former IRGC Quds Force Commander Martyr General Qassem Soleimani by the terrorist army of the US, and reassured that Washington will be held accountable for the crime in international tribunals. RNA - Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Rayeesi said on Tuesday that pursuing the assassination case of former IRGC Quds Force Commander Martyr General Soleimani, as a symbol of defending the oppressed, is a matter of national and revolutionary identity of the country.
He pointed to the salient characteristics and personality of Gen. Soleimani and his school of thought, which is based on the Islamic and revolutionary values, and added, “This terrorist act, committed by the US, has various international political, military, legal and judicial dimensions but the judiciary is responsible for investigating and following up its legal and judicial dimension.”
Referring to the measures taken in documenting and collecting the overt and covert documents of this criminal act, as the most necessary measure taken for the legal investigation of assassination case of Gen. Soleimani, Raeisi emphasized, “it is necessary that all relevant organizations should embark on collecting and presenting other documents of this case in the shortest time possible as requested by the special judges designated in this case.”
The US assassination of Iran’s top commander Gen. Soleimani has both criminal and legal aspect, the judiciary chief emphasized.
He then pointed to the measures taken by the Special Judicial Board of the case and added, “This judicial board consists of Tehran Prosecutor, head of International Branch of the Tribunal, deputy prosecutor general and special investigator and advisory board as well as one of the representatives in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Intelligence, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Human Rights Headquarters of the Judiciary.”
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani said on Sunday that assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani by the US army was the biggest strategic mistake of US President Donald Trump which leads to the expulsion of the American forces from Iraq.
“Assassinating generals of Resistance Axis, Marty Haj Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muahdis, was the result of a strategic mistake by Trump and the evil team in the White House. The countdown to the expulsion of America from the region began the early morning of Friday, January 3,” Shamkhani said, during his meeting with Chief of Iraq's Intelligence Service (IIS) Mustafa al-Kazemi in Baghdad.
General Soleimani was in Baghdad at the invitation of the Iraqi government when he was targeted.
The terrorist act led to a crisis in diplomatic relations between the US and Iraq which demanded that the American troops leave the country after the Iraqi parliament voted for their ouster.
The Trump administration has been defiant and instead threatened to seize Iraq's oil money being held in a bank account in New York as compensation for its military presence in the Arab country.
Meanwhile, some individuals in Iraq's intelligence agency have been implicated in the assassination. It is not clear if the issue will feature in the Iranian security official's talks in Baghdad.
Last month, a visiting Iraqi judicial delegation agreed with an offer by Iran on forming a joint committee for inquiry into the case of the US terrorist attack against General Soleimani on January 3.
Senior Iraqi judicial officials met with Deputy Iranian Minister of Justice on Human Rights and International Affairs Mahmoud Abbasi in Tehran.
Abbasi said that Iran has paid heavy human costs for supporting Baghdad government and the Iraqi nation, an example of which was the assassination of General Soleimani, the commander of Quds Force of Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the acting commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
He said that the assassination of General Soleimani by US drones in Baghdad while the Iranian general was officially visiting Iraq as a sovereign country constitutes an international crime in contravention of the UN Charter guaranteeing sovereignty of states.
Iran and Iraq would take the US terrorist attack against commanders of the two sovereign states to the International Court of Justice, the official said.
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