Jeune Street

Ayatollah Najafabadi, Prosecutor-General of Iran, is criticizing the International Criminal Court for its recent indictment of the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Iranian Students News Agency reports:

Speaking in Tehran's Friday Prayers, Najafabadi said the current relations governing the UN and its Security Council are not fair and that fair rules, fair legislator and fair lawful systems are required to execute justice.

Why is Najafabadi criticizing the ICC at Friday Prayers?

Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC, and this move by the Court opens the way for members of other governments to be indicted. Najafabadi has reason to be worried. His Deputy recently announced a set of spurious charges against seven detained Baha'i leaders in Iran, for which Iran has faced widespread international condemnation. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre has been building a case against high-level officials in Iran that could one day be brought before the ICC or an ad hoc tribunal:

It is the judgment of the IHRDC that the Islamic Republic's deliberate and coordinated attacks against Iran's Bahá'í community amount to a crime against humanity. The campaign evinced a widespread and systematic character and was directed at the highest levels of the Iranian state.