Iran official: Iraq responsible for prosecuting perpetrators of Soleimani killing

The secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights says Iraq stands responsible for the prosecution of those behind the assassination of the revered anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

Kazem Gharibabadi also underscored that the United States is the principal sponsor of terrorism across the world.

The Iranian official was meeting with a group of presidents and professors of Iraqi universities in Tehran on Sunday as they exchanged views on the West’s instrumental use and politicization of human rights.

Gharibabadi described Iran and Iraq as two victims of sanctions and terrorism.

“Iran and Iraq are victims of sanctions and terror. In Iraq, 500,000 innocent children lost their lives as a result of US and Western sanctions; there was even an embargo placed on students’ blackboard chalks.”

“Thousands of people fell victim to terrorism in Iran and Iraq; many people were plagued by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Iraq. Who created the group? The very same countries claiming advocacy of human rights,” Gharibabadi said.

The Iranian official praised the sacrifices and services of General Soleimani and his Iraqi counterpart Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in the fight against terrorism. “The distinguished heroes of the fight against terror did a grand service.”

The two commanders, Gharibabadi said, stood by the people of Iraq and Syria in eliminating Daesh and other terrorist groups despite the fact that those groups had Western support.

Gharibabadi said the assassination of the two commanders was a “crime against humanity,” and the United States’ government must be held legally accountable to that end.

Iran’s top rights official said “martyr Soleimani was the Iraqi government’s official guest and the crime was committed on the Iraqi soil.”

“The responsibility of pursuing the case rests with the Iraqi government to prosecute the perpetrators.”

“Three and a half years have passed since the assassination and we expect that Iraq arrange the trial as soon as possible.”

General Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi trenchmate, Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), were martyred along with their companions in a US drone strike on January 3, 2020.

The strike near the Baghdad International Airport was authorized by then President Donald Trump.

The two noted anti-terror commanders were tremendously respected across the region for their instrumental role in fighting and decimating Daesh, particularly in Iraq and Syria.