Iran: UN should hold ‘Yemen crime’ perpetrators to account

Kazem Gharibabad, Secretary of Iran’s High Commission for human Rights, wrote in a letter to the UN High Commissioner, “The world once more witnessed a criminal, cruel, inhuman act that goes against all principles of international law, especially the international humanitarian and human rights laws.”

He was referring to the January 21 attacks that killed over 100 Yemenis, including 3 children, and injured more than 260 others.

Gharibabadi said the coalition has conducted at least 839 airstrikes on civilian targets and infrastructure in Yemen despite all such attacks being prohibited under international law.
“In the atrocious attack, the principles of dissemination, proportionality and necessity were, by no means, observed,” he said.

He cited the remarks by the high commissioner’s spokesman three days before the attack that “Failure to respect such principles amount to war crimes”.

He said this, per se, is a license for referral of the case to competent international bodies.
“The people of Yemen are victims of the passive, dual, instrumental and anti-human rights policies of countries that claim to champion these rights,” he said.

Gharibabadi added that this makes it incumbent on international organizations to strongly condemn such crimes and ensure they are not repeated while holding the perpetrators to account.