The Times, October 8, 2021- By Marc Horne – A formal request has been made to arrest Iran’s president for crimes against humanity if he attends Cop26 in Glasgow.
Reports from Tehran suggest that President Raisi, 60, who took office in August, is considering making the climate conference his first overseas visit. President Biden and the Pope are expected to attend the event next month.
Human rights campaigners, victims and relatives of those who have been tortured and executed by the Iranian regime have called on Police Scotland to investigate Raisi under the legal concept of universal jurisdiction.
It means that human rights violators of any nationality can be charged in any country, regardless of where the crimes were committed. It was used by the UK government to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, when he arrived on British soil in 1998.
Struan Stevenson, a lecturer and former Scottish Conservative MEP, confirmed he had sent a complaint calling for Raisi to be investigated for “genocide and crimes against humanity” to Iain Livingstone, the chief constable.
“We are calling for action under universal jurisdiction and have submitted a complaint signed by five direct victims or relatives of victims who suffered torture, human rights abuse and in many cases extrajudicial execution, at the hands of or under the command of Ebrahim Raisi,” he said.
“We are particularly keen to alert Police Scotland to the crimes committed by this man before he potentially attends Cop26 in November.” Stevenson fears Raisi will use the platform granted to him at the summit as a PR coup.
Tahar Boumedra, a former UN human rights officer, and Hossein Abedini, an exiled member of the main Iranian democratic opposition group, are expected to lend their support at a press conference in Glasgow next week.
Naomi McAuliffe, Amnesty International’s programme director for Scotland, said: “Amnesty International has documented Ebrahim Raisi’s alleged involvement in crimes against humanity, including the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions of thousands of political dissidents by a ‘death commission’ he was a member of in 1988. Raisi must be investigated for his alleged involvement in crimes under international law.”
When asked, after his election victory, about his involvement in executions Raisi said: “If a judge, a prosecutor has defended the security of the people, he should be praised.”
Police Scotland said it had received the information which it was assessing.