If the terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization is proven guilty of having committed atrocities against the people of Iraq, MKO leader Masud Rajavi can also be prosecuted alongside former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Iranian professor Sadegh Zibakalam said on Saturday.
Saddam’s charges specifically include the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Halabja in 1988 and the massacre of Shia villagers in Dujail in 1982, Zibakalam said.
If the MKO is found guilty of committing genocide and crimes against humanity, as defined by international organizations, in Iraq, the issue can be pursued through legal means, he explained.
MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee also said on Saturday that there is sufficient evidence to prove that Rajavi is guilty of committing genocide against the Iraqi and Iranian people alongside Saddam Hussein.
“The Iranian government must pursue the case,” he told the Mehr News Agency, adding, “Iraqi Kurds can charge him with genocide based on indisputable evidence. “The MKO’s role in suppressing the 1991 Iraqi Intifada and massacring Iraqi Kurds is undeniable. Even the Europeans and the United States refer to them as terrorists.”
Falahatpisheh condemned Saddam’s crimes against the Iraqi and Iranian nations, saying that the many abhorrent and unprecedented aspects of his crimes should not be buried with him after his death.
Political analyst Javad Mansuri also said on Saturday that the special tribunal trying Saddam could legally subpoena and try Rajavi if survivors of the 1991 attack against Iraqi Kurds file charges against him.
“The request to extradite Rajavi is completely legal and practicable and the diplomatic and judiciary bodies should both make efforts to do this,” he asserted.
International relations expert Hossein Sabbah Zanganeh affirmed on Saturday that the special tribunal trying Saddam is legally responsible for trying other people of any nationality who have committed crimes against the Iraqi nation.
The MKO and Rajavi himself have committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity both on Iranian and Iraqi soil, Zanganeh told the Mehr News Agency.
According to the UN Security Council resolution on terrorism, Iran can present its request to extradite Rajavi and other key MKO members to the UN, he added.
On Saturday, political activist Masud Dehnamaki called on the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the families of Iranian martyrs to submit an official request to arrest and try Rajavi as an accomplice to Saddam.
Meanwhile, an Iranian Judiciary official told MNA on Saturday that Rajavi, as an Iranian national, should be tried in Iran.
He expressed the view that the special tribunal investigating crimes against humanity in Iraq, which has been formed to try Saddam, is only qualified to deal with the crimes of Iraqi nationals.
Mehrnews