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Revision as of 12:44, 28 September 2020

Kazem Rajavi
Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations Office at Geneva
In office
1979–1980
PresidentAbulhassan Banisadr
Prime MinisterMehdi Bazargan
Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Preceded byJafar Nadim
Succeeded byMostafa Dabiri
Personal details
Born8 February 1934
Tabas, Iran
Died24 April 1990 (aged 56)
Coppet, Switzerland
Political partyNational Council of Resistance of Iran

Kazem Rajavi (Template:Lang-fa) (8 February 1934 – 24 April 1990) was a renowned[1][2][3] human rights advocate and the elder brother of Iranian Mujahedin leader Massoud Rajavi.[4] When, in 1971, Massoud Rajavi was arrested and sentenced to death, Kazem Rajavi managed to prevent the execution by forming an international campaign and changing the verdict to life imprisonment.[5]

He engaged in international endeavors to defend human rights in Iran,[6], held graduate degrees in law, sociology and political science, and was a "major opposition voice to the fundamentalist government of Iranian".[7][opinion] He was a political science professor at Geneva University.[8] He is believed to have been assassinated by Islamic Republic of Iran agents.[9] and held graduate degrees in law, sociology, and political science.

Career

Kazem Rajavi was Iran's first Ambassador to the United Nations headquarters in Geneva following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. He was also a orator and well-known human rights activist.[10][11] Shortly after his appointment, he resigned his post in protest to the "repressive policies and terrorist activities of the ruling clerics in Iran". He then intensified his campaign against mass executions, arbitrary arrests, and torture carried out by Iran's theocratic leadership.

He became the representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Switzerland where each year he headed the People's Mujahedin of Iran delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and was "vocal in the campaign against repression in Iran". Rajavi also held a professorship and taught at the School of Law at Geneva University for nearly 10 years.[12]

162 members of Congress referred to Kazem Rajavi as "a great advocate of human rights, who had dedicated his life to establishment of democracy in his homeland."[13][conflicted source?]

Rajavi had received several threats from agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but continued his work as a dissident and human rights activist.[9]

Death

On 24 April 1990, Kazem Rajavi was killed in Geneva.[4] He was shot in the head at close range, with the assassins escaping the scene.[14]

Swiss authorities and the U.S State Department held the Iran regime responsible for Kazem Rajavi's assassination.[15][failed verification] According to a Washington Post report in 1993, Kazem Rajavi's assassination, presumably provides the clearest example of Tehran connection.[16][17]

Pursuit of perpetrators

The U.S. government imposed visa restrictions on 13 Iranian officials whom they accused of involvement in Rajavi's killing. According to Mike Pompeo, the Iranian officials acted “under the highest orders of their government to silence opposition and show that no one is safe from the Iranian regime.”[18] According to the State Department “These 13 individuals, who posed as Iranian diplomats, were acting under the highest orders of their government to silence opposition and show that no one is safe from the Iranian regime, no matter where they live.” The suspects included Sadegh Baba’ie, Ali Reza Hamadani, Said Danesh, Ali Hadavi, Saeed Hemati, Mohammad Reza Jazayeri, Moshen Esfahani, Ali Moslehiaraghi, Naser Pourmirzai, Mohsen Pourshafiee, Mohammad Rezvani, Mahmoud Sajadian and Yadollah Samadi.[19] Also implicated in the assassination were Mohammad Hossein Malaek (Iranian ambassador to Switzerland) and Karim-Abadi (Iran’s consul-general in Geneva).[20]

In November 1992, two of the suspects, Mohsen Sharif Esfahani and Ahmad Taheri, were arrested in France, and in February, the high court in Paris ruled that the two men should be extradited to Switzerland. The government in France, however, secretly deported the two suspects back to Iran.[21]

Christian Dunant (Swiss Charge d’Affaires) made a formal protest to the French Foreign Ministry saying "the French action violated European extradition treaties and a European accord against terrorism."[22] The decision to repatriate the suspects caused protests throughout France and was condemned by the U.S.[23][24] The European Parliament "condemned the Islamic Republic both for the assassination and for the continuous violation of human rights inside and outside the country."[9]

Informed sources said that Paris had taken seriously "Iranian threats of launching a new wave of terrorist operations in France but also against French interests and citizens in both Iran and Lebanon if Paris decided to extradite the two to Switzerland."[25]

The culprits of Kazem Rajavi’s killing have gone unpunished to date.[26] On May 29, 2020 Swiss justice system sent a letter to Rajavi's family saying that it would drop the investigation relating to Rajavi's assassination, with the letter saying that “the criminal investigation must be closed because the statute of limitations has been reached”. [27]

The decision of the Swiss prosecutor's office was strongly protested by the National Council of Resistance of Iran which issued a statement condemning it, and demanded that the case be kept open.[28] NCRI also called for Issuance of international arrest warrants for Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Hassan Rouhani, then secretary of Iran's Supreme Security Council, and Ali Akbar Velayati, the then foreign minister.[29][30]

Letter to the Deputy Attorney General of the Swiss Confederation

In a letter to the Deputy Attorney General of the Swiss Confederation, Vaud Canton’s Prosecutor suggested that the assassination of Prof. Kazem Rajavi should be investigated as a case of crime against humanity and not just as a typical homicide.[31] He therefore suggested the case to be transferred to the Attorney General, since genocide and crimes against humanity fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Swiss Confederation. In April, ten politicians and personalities in Geneva signed an article in the Tribune de Genève criticizing impunity in Rajavi's case, with Jean Ziegler saying that closing this case would constitute "'impunity for assassins' on Swiss soil."[32]

References

  1. ^ "Swiss to drop 30-year-old murder case of Iranian opposition leader".
  2. ^ Hollington, Chris (2008). Jackal: The Complete Story of the Legendary Terrorist, Carlos the Jackal. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-1611450262.
  3. ^ "Switzerland risks giving Iran the impression it can commit acts of terror with impunity". Euronews.
  4. ^ a b "Iran: Chronology of Events: June 1989 - July 1994". UNHCR. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  5. ^ "Biography of Massoud Rajavi". San Diego, CA Patch. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  6. ^ "KILLING OF IRANIAN DISSENTERS: 'BLOODY TRAIL BACK TO TEHRAN'". Washington Post.
  7. ^ "IN IRAN, THE TERROR AND TORTURE GO ON". Washington Post.
  8. ^ "IRANIAN DIPLOMATS AND A KILLING IN GENEVA". Washington Post.
  9. ^ a b c Cohen, Ronen (August 2018). "The Mojahedin-e Khalq versus the Islamic Republic of Iran: from war to propaganda and the war on propaganda and diplomacy". Middle Eastern Studies. 54 (6).
  10. ^ "Swiss orders arrest of Iranian ex-minister". Swiss Info.
  11. ^ Follain, John (2011). Jackal: The Complete Story of the Legendary Terrorist, Carlos the Jackal. Arcade. ISBN 978-1611450262.
  12. ^ "Assassination Bares The Other Face Of `Moderate' Iran". Swiss Christian Science Monitor.
  13. ^ The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan. 2008. p. XViii. ISBN 978-0230601284. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  14. ^ "Assassination Bares The Other Face Of `Moderate' Iran". Swiss Christian Science Monitor.
  15. ^ Katzman, Kenneth (2001). "Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran". In Benliot, Albert V. (ed.). Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?. Nova. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-56072-954-9.
  16. ^ Atkinson, Rick (21 November 1993). "KILLING OF IRANIAN DISSENTERS: 'BLOODY TRAIL BACK TO TEHRAN'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  17. ^ SANCTON, THOMAS (24 June 2001). "The Tehran Connection". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  18. ^ "U.S. imposes visa restrictions on 14 Iranians over human rights violations". Reuters.
  19. ^ "US names 14 sanctioned Iranian 'human rights violators'". The National.
  20. ^ "Assassination Bares The Other Face Of `Moderate' Iran". Swiss Christian Science Monitor.
  21. ^ "Swiss fury as French let murder suspects go". The Independent.
  22. ^ "Swiss, Iranian Opposition Protest French Expulsions". AP News.
  23. ^ "U.S. imposes visa restrictions on 14 Iranians over human rights violations". Reuters.
  24. ^ Katzman, Kenneth (2001). "Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran". In Benliot, Albert V. (ed.). Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?. Nova. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-56072-954-9.
  25. ^ "Swiss fury as French let murder suspects go". The Independent.
  26. ^ "Switzerland risks giving Iran the impression it can commit acts of terror with impunity". Euronews.
  27. ^ AFP/ts. "Swiss to drop 30-year-old murder case of Iranian opposition leader". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  28. ^ "NCRI protests Swiss decision to drop investigation into murder of opposition figure". Al Arabiya English. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  29. ^ "تصمیم سوئیس برای پایان تحقیق درباره ترور «کاظم رجوی» مورد اعتراض قرار گرفت | صدای آمریکا فارسی". ir.voanews.com (in Persian). Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  30. ^ radiofarda. "دادستانی سوئیس پرونده ترور برادر رهبر سازمان مجاهدین خلق را مختومه میکند". رادیو فردا (in Persian). Retrieved 15 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ^ "Should Switzerland close the case of a murdered Iranian diplomat?". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  32. ^ "Should Switzerland close the case of a murdered Iranian diplomat?". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
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