Iran asks Interpol to help arrest Trump and 47 other US officials over 2020 killing of General Soleimani – judiciary spokesman

 

5 Jan, 2021 13:08

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(L) Qasem Soleimani © Getty Images / Anadolu Agency / Press Office of Iranian Supreme Leader; (R) Donald Trump © Getty Images / Andrew Harrer-Pool 

Iran has requested that Interpol issue a ‘Red Notice’ for Donald Trump and 47 other officials, over their “role” in the assassination of Qassem Soleimani last January, said judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaeili.

“The request to issue a ‘Red Notice’ for 48 people involved in the assassination of Martyr Soleimani, including the US President, as well as commanders and officials at the Pentagon, and forces in the region, was handed over to Interpol,” said Esmaeili at a press conference in Tehran on Tuesday. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is very seriously following up on pursuing and punishing those who ordered and executed this crime,” he added.

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According to the International Criminal Police Organization, its ‘Red Notice’ is a “request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.” Interpol notes that it is not an arrest warrant. 

Iranian Minister of Intelligence Mahmoud Alavi also spoke on the issue on Tuesday, saying that Iran had prepared 1,000 pages of documents to refer to the International Criminal Court to prove that state terrorism had been used against General Soleimani. He also pledged “tough revenge at the proper time.”

Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a US drone strike on January 3, 2020, while visiting Baghdad. Agnes Callamard, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, described the assassination as “unlawful” and a “nail in the coffin of international law,” when she took to Twitter on the anniversary of the assassination.

Iran already requested Interpol’s help in arresting Donald Trump and 35 other officials on “murder and terrorism charges” in June last year. However, Interpol rejected the request, citing its constitution as prohibiting it from undertaking “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial character.”

Senior Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, have repeatedly pledged to avenge the assassination of General Soleimani.

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Donald Trump is set to leave office on January 20, and Iran has expressed the hope that the end of his presidency might mean he could be brought to justice.