Dear Honorable Representatives of the United States Congress

As you will no doubt be aware, a few days ago the government of Belgium, which is one of the allies of the United States of America, has submitted a bill to its parliament, which lays out a legal framework of cooperation between the Belgian judiciary and the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In this regard IOPHR would like to draw your attention to the following points:

  • As you know, in an action contrary to usual legal custom, Iran’s judiciary has officially declared the United States of America as a hostile government, and therefore has issued very heavy sentences and even death sentences for Iranian citizens in actual or ‘alleged’ contact with the US: There are many examples of such sentences, like the issuing of death sentence against Omid Kokbi (an Iranian physicist) by two branches of the Revolutionary Court, for the crime of collaborating with the “hostile government of America”. Another example, is the ten-year prison sentence issued for Siamak Namazi and his father, Bagher Namazi, Iranian-American citizens who are detained in Iran, on the charge of “cooperation with the hostile government of America”. In addition, there is the case of Mr. Nizar Zaka, a Lebanese citizen residing in the United States, who travelled to Tehran at the official invitation of the Iranian government to participate in a scientific conference, who was then arrested, and also sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime of collaborating with the “hostile government of the United States”. So given all these cases the question arises, how the Belgian government, which is a military ally of the United States of America and its military security is guaranteed by US through NATO, can enter into judicial and legal cooperation with the government of Iran, which is openly hostile to United States of America ?
  • Moreover, it has now become clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran had a pivotal role in logistic planning of September 2001 terrorist attack on the United States of America. As according to the published reports, the terrorists who carried out this atrocious attack were all in the camps of the Hezbollah terrorist group in South Sudan, and received special training and aid by the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and were also provided with opportunities of transiting through Iranian soil, without stamping their passports. Furthermore, it is also clear from the documents discovered from bin Laden’s den in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that senior leaders of al-Qaeda had also been living secretly in the southeast of Iran for years, and the Iranian authorities had made it possible for them to freely travel through the eastern borders of Iran.
  •  Considering that according to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, a military attack on the territory of any of the members of this treaty is considered an attack on the territory of all members, the Belgian government was expected to consider this attack on the territory of the United States, as an attack on its territory and it was expected to limit its diplomatic and economic relations with the government responsible for this attack. Unfortunately, the Belgian government has not only limited its political and economic relations with the ruling regime of Iran, but now is submitting the judicial cooperation bill, which ultimately leads to the release of terrorists and increased relation whit the Iranian government, which is known to openly support terrorism against Western countries.

Based on the above points, and especially considering that the Iranian judiciary has officially declared the United States of America as the hostile government, and has issued heavy judicial sentences including even death sentences against Iranian citizens who have any connection with US, IOPHR would like to request that the United States Congress, in a countermeasure, subject the judicial branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran to unilateral sanctions, so that the possibility of cooperation of Iran judiciary with terrorists is reduced to a minimum.

The International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights

8th July 2022

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