Click here to see the profiles of the signatories
OPEN LETTER
Michael Froman
President, Council on Foreign Relations
58 East 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
URGENT – 18 September 2023
Dear Mr. Froman,
It has come to our attention that the Council on Foreign Relations has extended an invitation to the President of Iran’s regime, Ebrahim Raisi, to attend an event at your offices despite his sinister role in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
According to human rights groups, on Ayatollah Khomeini’s orders, as many as 30,000 political prisoners were executed in the 1988 massacre for refusing to renounce their beliefs. At the time, Raisi was Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran and sat on the Tehran Death Commission that sent thousands of steadfast political prisoners to their death. According to Amnesty International[1], “Across the country, the victims were primarily supporters of the PMOI” opposition group.
In 2019, as Judiciary Chief, Raisi presided over a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters who dared to cry out for democracy and freedom. As President, he oversaw the murder of at least 750 protesters and the arrest of some 30,000 others during the September 2022 nationwide uprising led by brave young women. Those protesters have made clear that they reject any form of dictatorship, be it the monarchy or theocratic rule. Authorities in Iran are now executing those defiant protesters.
Amnesty International has publicly called[2] for Raisi to be investigated for his involvement in past and ongoing crimes against humanity, including by states that exercise universal jurisdiction. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran has equally called[3] for an international investigation into Raisi’s role in the 1988 massacre.
While we appreciate the CFR has a forum for promoting international dialogue, there can be no justification for inviting a perpetrator of crimes against humanity to speak at your panel. By lending your platform to Raisi, who should be prosecuted for crimes under international law, you will only fuel the culture of impunity that exists in Iran.
As international human rights and legal experts and organisations, and as individuals of conscience, we implore the CFR to immediately cancel its event with Raisi.
Sincerely,
SIGNED:
Individual co-signatories:
Amb. Stephen J. Rapp – (United States)
US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (2009-2015); Prosecutor of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) (2007-2009); Senior Fellow at Center for the Prevention of Genocide of US Holocaust Memorial Museum and at Center for Ethics, Law & Armed Conflict (ELAC) of Oxford University
Amb. Zorica Marić-Djordjević – (Montenegro)
Ambassador of Montenegro to the UN Human Rights Council and World Trade Organization (2013-2018); Senior Peace Fellow at PILPG
Dr. Rowan Williams – (United Kingdom)
Former Archbishop of Canterbury; former Master of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge
Dr. Karen Smith – (South Africa)
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect (2019-2021)
John Baird – (Canada)
Former Foreign Minister of Canada
Prof. Ariel E. Dulitzky – (Argentina)
Former Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID); Director of the Human Rights Clinic of the School of Law at University of Texas at Austin
Houria Esslami – (Morocco)
Former Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID)
Oleksandra Matviichuk – (Ukraine)
2022 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Head of Center for Civil Liberties (CCL)
Jody Williams – (United States)
1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Prof. Robert K. Goldman – (United States)
President, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ); Former UN Independent Expert on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Former President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR); Professor of Law, Washington College of Law, American University
Prof. José Luís da Cruz Vilaça – (Portugal)
President of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (1989-1995); Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union (2012-2018); Member of the Portuguese Government (1980-1983); Professor of EU Law; Attorney at law, founder and managing partner of Cruz Vilaça Advogados
Amb. Jorge Lomonaco – (Mexico)
Ambassador of Mexico to UN Geneva and the UN Human Rights Council (2013-2017), Vice-President, Assembly of States Parties of the ICC (2008-2011); Member of PILPG Circle of Former Ambassadors to the UN Human Rights Council
Sir Howard Morrison KC – (United Kingdom)
President of the Appeals Division of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (2012-2018 & 2020-2021); Former Judge, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Morten Kjaerum – (Denmark)
Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Sweden; Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) (2008-2015)
Prof. Claudio Grossman – (Chile)
Member, UN International Law Commission (ILC) (2016-present); Chair, ILC’s Drafting Committee (2019); President, Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH) (2014-present); President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) (1996, 2001); Chair, UN Committee against Torture (CAT) (4 terms, from 2008-2015); Chair, UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies (2013); Professor of Law & Dean Emeritus, R. Geraldson Scholar for International and Humanitarian Law, American University Washington College of Law
Prof. Christian Tomuschat – (Germany)
President of the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (2013-2019); Member of the UN Human Rights Committee (1977-1986); Member and Chairman of the UN International Law Commission (1985-1996); Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Commission on the human rights situation in Guatemala (1990-1993); Coordinator, Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH), Guatemala (1997-1999); Professor em. Humboldt University Berlin
Sir David Edward KCMG KC – (United Kingdom)
Judge, European Court of Justice (1992-2004); Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh
Prof. Irwin Cotler – (Canada)
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada; Founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; Emeritus Professor of Law McGill University
Rabbi Abraham Cooper – (United States)
Chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom; Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action, Simon Wiesenthal Center
Prof. Wolfgang Schomburg – (Germany)
Judge, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (2001-2008); former Judge, UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR); Judge, Federal Supreme Court of Germany (1995–2000)
Anne Ramberg – (Sweden)
Co-Chair, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI); Ad hoc Judge, European Court of Human Rights (ECHR); Board Member, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA); Chair, Board of Uppsala University; Former Secretary General, Swedish Bar Association
Hon. Richard J. Goldstone – (South Africa)
Former Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; Former Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; Honorary President of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Stanislav Pavlovschi – (Moldova)
Minister of Justice of Moldova (2019); Judge, European Court of Human Rights (2001-2008)
Tahar Boumedra – (United Kingdom)
Director, Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI); former Chief of UNAMI Human Rights Office and Representative of the HCHR in Iraq
Dr. Mark Ellis – (United Kingdom)
Executive Director, International Bar Association (IBA); former Chair of the UN Advisory Panel on Matters Relating to Defence Counsel of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals
Amb. Hans Corell – (Sweden)
Former Judge of Appeal; former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations (1994-2004); former Co-Chair of the Council of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute
Kumi Naidoo – (South Africa)
Secretary General, Amnesty International (2018-2020); Global Ambassador, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity
Prof. David M. Crane – (United States)
Founding Chief Prosecutor, UN Special Court for Sierra Leone; Founder, Global Accountability Network
Susan Bazilli – (Canada)
UN Expert in the OHCHR examination of the human rights situation in Belarus; Director, International Women’s Rights Project (IWRP)
Prof. Valeriu M. Ciucă – (Romania)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (2007-2010)
Prof. Vilenas Vadapalas – (Lithuania)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (2004-2013)
Prof. Franklin Dehousse – (Belgium)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (2003-2016); Legal Adviser to the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium (1981-1990); Professor, University of Liège
Prof. Giovanni Grasso – (Italy)
Former International Judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina; former Judge of the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina
Prof. Andrzej Rzepliński – (Poland)
President of the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland (2010-2016); Member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (1994-2004); Member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2004-2008); Member of the Advisory Board of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (2013-present)
Maud De Boer-Buquicchio – (The Netherlands)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children (2014-2020); former Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Prof. François Crépeau – (Canada)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants (2011-2017); Professor of Public International Law, McGill University
Anand Grover – (India)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (2008-2014); Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law Center, Georgetown University, Washington; Member, Global Commission on Drug Policy; Director, Lawyers Collective
Prof. Pierre Sané – (Senegal)
Secretary General, Amnesty International (1992-2001); Assistant Director-General, UNESCO (2001-2010)
Prof. Michel Mayor – (Switzerland)
2019 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Prof. Joachim Frank – (United States)
2017 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Prof. Jacques Dubochet – (Switzerland)
2017 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Prof. Jean-Pierre Sauvage – (France)
2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Prof. Roger Kornberg – (United States)
2006 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Elfriede Jelinek – (Austria)
2004 Nobel Laureate in Literature
Prof. Finn E. Kydland – (Norway)
2004 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
Sir Richard J. Roberts Ph.D. F.R.S. – (United Kingdom)
1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
Prof. Sheldon Glashow – (United States)
1979 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Dr. Juan E. Garcés – (Spain)
Lawyer and former advisor to Chilean President Salvador Allende; Winner of the 1999 Right Livelihood Award (Sweden); Director of “Garcés y Prada Abogados”, Madrid; President of the Spanish Foundation “President Allende”
Ingrid Betancourt – (Colombia)
Former Senator and Presidential candidate
Bianca Jagger – (Nicaragua)
President and Chief Executive, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF)
Sareta Ashraph – (Trinidad and Tobago)
Barrister at Garden Court Chambers, International Criminal Lawyer; Chair of the International Bar Association’s War Crimes Committee; Visiting Fellow with the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict at the Blavatnik School; former Senior Analyst on the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh; Chief Legal Analyst on the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria (2012-2016); Legal Adviser to the ICC’s Defence Office (2010-2011)
Senator Leo Housakos – (Canada)
Senator; Former Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs & International Trade; Former Speaker, Senate of Canada (2015)
Lord Alton of Liverpool – (United Kingdom)
Member of the House of Lords
Senator Orry Van de Wauwer – (Belgium)
Member of the Senate of Belgium
Uffe Elbæk MP – (Denmark)
Member of Parliament; Minister of Culture in Denmark (2011-2012); Leader of the Green Party – The Alternative (2013-2020)
Milan Zver MEP – (Slovenia)
Member of the European Parliament
Dr. Melanie O’Brien – (Australia)
President, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS); Associate Professor of International Law, University of Western Australia
Dr. Maude Barlow – (Canada)
Former Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the United Nations General Assembly; Former Chairperson of the Council of Canadians
Prof. David J. Simon – (United States)
Director, Genocide Studies Program at Yale University
Dr. Maxim Pensky – (United States)
Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP), Binghamton University
Dr. Kerry Whigham – (United States)
Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP), Binghamton University
Arbana Xharra – (Kosovo)
Recipient of US Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award 2015; Journalist
Tracy Edwards MBE – (United Kingdom)
Founder, The Maiden Factor
Hiljmnijeta Apuk – (Kosovo)
Winner, United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights for 2013; Director, Little People of Kosova; Member, Ad Hoc Committee of the UN General Assembly on drafting of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Dr. György Tatár – (Hungary)
Director, Budapest Centre for Mass Atrocities Prevention (BCMAP); Head of EU Task Force for Conflict Prevention/Emerging Horizontal Security Issues (2004-2010)
Prof. Brice Dickson – (United Kingdom)
Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (1999-2005); Professor of International and Comparative Law, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB)
Gabrielle McIntyre – (Australia)
Chairperson, Seychelles’ Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission; Former Chef de Cabinet and Principal Legal Advisor to the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT)
Sonja Biserko – (Serbia)
Former Member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in North Korea (DPRK); Founder and President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Prof. Sara Chandler KC (Hon) – (United Kingdom)
Secretary to the Human Rights Commission of the European Bars Federation (Fédération des Barreaux d’Europe – FBE) and Former President of the FBE; Former Chair of the Human Rights Committee, Law Society of England & Wales
Prof. Felipe Gómez Isa – (Spain)
Professor of International Law; Researcher at the Institute of Human Rights of the University of Deusto; Vice-Dean for International Relations, Deusto Law School
Prof. Debórah Dwork – (United States)
Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at The Graduate Center—City University of New York (CUNY)
Dr. Victoria Sanford – (United States)
Founding Director, Center for Human Rights & Peace Studies at Lehman College-City University of New York (CUNI); Lehman Professor of Excellence, 2021-2024
Dr. Ellen J. Kennedy – (United States)
Executive Director, World Without Genocide
Eric Sottas – (Switzerland)
Founder and former Secretary General of Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture – World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Prof. Errol P. Mendes – (Canada)
President, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Canadian Section; Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Prof. Timothy J. Christian KC – (Canada)
Chief Federal Negotiator of the Government of Canada (1996–2010); Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta (1985-1995)
Prof. James Silk – (United States)
Director, Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School; Binger Clinical Professor of Human Rights, Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School
Hans Noot – (The Netherlands)
Director, Gerard Noodt Foundation for Freedom of Religion or Belief
Prof. Susana SáCouto – (United States)
Director, War Crimes Research Office (WCRO), American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL)
Ezechia Paolo Reale – (Italy)
Secretary General, The Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights; Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Dr. Kjell Anderson – (Canada)
Assistant Professor of Law, and Director of Master of Human Rights program, University of Manitoba
R. Bruce McColm – (United States)
President, Institute for Democratic Strategies; former Executive Director, Freedom House
Prof. Aurora Ciucă – (Romania)
President, “Vespasian V. Pella” Association; Faculty of Law and Public Administration, University “Ștefan cel Mare”
Toby Cadman – (United Kingdom)
Co-founder of Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers
David Russell – (United Kingdom)
UK Coordinator, Survivors Fund (SURF)
Prof. Steven M. Schneebaum – (United States)
International Law and Organizations Program, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University
Prof. Predrag Dojčinović – (United States)
Adjunct Professor and Research Affiliate at the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut; War Crimes expert at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (1998-2017)
Anila Ali – (United States)
President and CEO, American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council
Prof. Jerry P. White – (Canada)
Professor Emeritus, Sociology, Western University; Director, Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium
Clair Duffy – (Australia)
Former Prosecution Appeals Counsel, UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
Prof. Rebecca Cook – (Canada)
Professor Emerita, Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto
Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs – (United States)
Professor of Religious Studies, University of Alabama; former First Vice-President, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
Alastair Logan OBE, LL.B – (United Kingdom)
Chair, Solicitors International Human Rights Group; Council Member of The Law Society of England and Wales
Prof. Nicholas Grief – (United Kingdom)
Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Kent
Prof. Eve Zucker – (United States)
Lecturer at Yale University; Member, Steering Committee, Genocide Studies Program at Yale University
Antonia Benfield – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
Prof. Jennifer Wright Knust – (United Kingdom)
Professor of Religious Studies, Duke University; Director, Elizabeth A. Clark Center for Late Ancient Studies; Co-Director, Franklin Humanities Institute Manuscript Migration Lab
Prof. Hilary Earl – (Canada)
Professor of European History and Genocide Studies, Nipissing University; former Member of the Advisory Board, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
Irene Victoria Massimino – (Argentina)
Co-President of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention; Professor of Jurisprudence and Human Rights; Former High Criminal Court Rapporteur of Buenos Aires, Argentina (2016-2020)
Prof. Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann – (Canada)
Professor Emerita, Wilfrid Laurier University; Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights (2003-2016); Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; Member of the Order of Canada
Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey – (United States)
Executive Director, Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention; Endowed Chair, Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College; Former President, Genocide Watch; Former First Vice President, International Association of Genocide Scholars
Greg Boos – (United States)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Prof. Robin Kirk – (United States)
Faculty Co-Director, Duke Human Rights Center; Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University
Prof. Dr. Susanne Brandtstädter – (Germany)
Professor and Chair of the Anthropology of Globalization at the University of Cologne
Antonio Stango – (Italy)
President, Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU)
Jessica Finelle – (France)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Dr. Alan Mendoza – (United Kingdom)
Executive Director, The Henry Jackson Society
Kyle Matthews – (Canada)
Executive Director, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) at Concordia University
David Matas – (Canada)
Human rights lawyer and Co-Founder of International Coalition To End Transplant Abuse In China
Prof. Lyndall Ryan – (Australia)
Emeritus Professor, University of Newcastle, Australia; Head of the School of Humanities, University of Newcastle (1999-2003)
Prof. Haun Saussy – (United States)
Professor, University of Chicago
Mélanie Sonhaye-Kombate – (Togo)
Executive Director, West Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (WAHRDN / ROADDH)
Dr. James Mehigan – (Ireland / United States)
Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Canterbury; Barrister, Garden Court Chambers; Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Elisabetta Zamparutti – (Italy)
Co-founder and Treasurer of Hands Off Cain, former Member of Parliament
Malcolm Fowler – (United Kingdom)
Solicitor and Higher Court Advocate, member of JVMI, and formerly of the Council and Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales
Sarah Magill – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, Lincoln House Chambers
Dr. Denakpon L. Tchobo – (United States)
President, Global Justice Intelligence Eyes (GJIE)
Eleonora Mongelli – (Italy)
Vice President, FIDU – Federazione Italiana Diritti Umani (Italian Federation for Human Rights)
Leto Cariolou – (Cyprus / United Kingdom)
Barrister, Garden Court Chambers; Former Legal Officer, UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals
Dr Jocelynne A. Scutt – (United Kingdom)
Senior Fellow at the University of Buckingham, former Anti-Discrimination Commissioner of Tasmania, and former judge on the High Court of Fiji
Prof. David Palumbo-Liu – (United States)
Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford University
Ben Cooper KC – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
Marion Böker – (Germany)
Director, Consultancy for Human Rights & Gender Issues
Nicoletta Montefusco – (United States)
Founder and Senior Legal Counsel, Lex Et Iura
Prof. Phil Scraton – (United Kingdom / Ireland)
Emeritus Professor, School of Law, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB)
Prof. Timothy Patrick McCarthy – (United States)
Lecturer on Education, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Public Leadership and Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Abbas Lakha KC – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, 9BR Chambers
Dr. Fiona McGaughey – (Australia)
Associate Professor of International Human Rights Law, University of Western Australia
Ahmet Cemil Yildirim – (Kuwait)
Associate Professor of Comparative Law, Gulf University for Science and Technology
Amos Waldman – (United Kingdom)
Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers; Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Dr. Jennifer Leaning – (United States)
Former FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights and former Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University; Senior Research Fellow at the FXB Center and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Prof. Alexander Motyl – (United States)
Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University
Elisabeth Rabesandratana – (France)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Charles A. Adeogun-Phillips – (United Kingdom & Nigeria)
Barrister, Guerinca37 International Justice Chambers; Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Birgitta Jonsdottir – (Iceland)
Former Member of Parliament; former WikiLeaks officer
Prof. Caroline Bennett – (New Zealand)
Lecturer in Social Anthropology and International Development, University of Sussex School of Global Studies
Simona Voicescu – (Romania)
Executive Director, Asociația Necuvinte (Necuvinte Association)
Tarazi Mohammed Sheikh – (Bangladesh)
Lawyer
Ronita Ghosh – (India)
President, World Chamber for Social Business (WCSB)
Dr. Eyal Mayroz – (Australia)
Senior Lecturer, Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney
Theo Huckle KC – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn and Visiting Professor at King’s College London; Counsel General for Wales 2011-16
Dr. Carmen Márquez-Carrasco – (Spain)
Professor of Public International Law and International Relations, University of Sevilla
Joe Holmes – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, 9BR Chambers
Prof. Natasha Lindstaedt – (United Kingdom)
Faculty Dean of Education (Social Sciences UG), Department of Government, University of Essex
Prof. Juan Carlos Manriquez – (Chile)
Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC); Professor of Criminal Law and International Criminal Law
Thom Dyke – (United Kingdom)
Barrister at Deka Chambers; Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Dr. Paulo Ilich Bacca – (Colombia)
Deputy Director, Center for Law, Justice and Society, Dejusticia; Lecturer in Legal Theory, Javeriana University
Anja Matwijkiw – (Denmark)
Professor of Ethics & Human Rights at the Indiana University Graduate School & Department of Philosophy, Indiana University Northwest; 2019-2020 Chair of Public International Law, Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law & Faculty of Law, Lund University, Sweden
Prof. Josef Azizi – (Austria)
Judge, General Court of the European Union (1995-2013)
Tali Nates – (South Africa)
Founder and Executive Director, Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Center
Amb. Filloreta Kodra – (Albania)
Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations in Geneva
Érick Sullivan – (Canada)
Deputy Director, International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic, Université Laval (Québec, Canada); Coordinator, Canadian Partnership for International Justice
Prof. Pearl Eliadis – (Canada)
Law Office of Pearl Eliadis (practice in human rights); Associate Professor (Professional), McGill University
Dr. David E. Pettigrew – (United States)
Professor of Philosophy, Southern Connecticut State University; Member, Steering Committee, Genocide Studies Program at Yale University
Dr. Felicity Gerry KC – (United Kingdom)
Barrister, Libertas Chambers; Professor of Legal Practice, Deakin University; Member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Prof. Tom Shakespeare – (United Kingdom)
Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Co-signatory organisations:
Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) – (United Kingdom)
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) – (United Kingdom)
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) – (Germany)
Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights – (Canada)
CIVICUS – (South Africa)
Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) – (Ukraine)
Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, The Graduate Center—City University of New York (CUNY) – (United States)
Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) – Concordia University – (Canada)
Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) at Binghamton University, NY – (United States)
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention – (United States)
Guernica 37 Chambers – (United Kingdom)
Italian Federation for Human Rights – Federazione Italiana Diritti Umani (FIDU) – (Italy)
Gerard Noodt Foundation for Freedom of Religion or Belief – (The Netherlands)
West African Human Rights Defenders Network / Réseau Ouest Africain des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (WAHRDN/ROADDH) – (Togo)
Budapest Centre for Dialogue and Mass Atrocities Prevention – (Hungary)
Le Comité de soutien aux droits de l’homme en Iran (CSDHI) – (France)
Greater Caribbean for Life – (Puerto Rico)
NGO Little People of Kosova – (Kosovo)
Mille étoiles pour la Liberté – (France)
Asociația Necuvinte (Necuvinte Association) – (Romania)
Association des Femmes Iraniennes en France (AFIF) – (France)
World Without Genocide – (United States)
Hands Off Cain – (Italy)
Simon Wiesenthal Center – (United States)
Community Work Ireland (CWI) – (Ireland)
[1] Amnesty International, “Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity”, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/9421/2018/en/
[2] Amnesty International, 19 June 2021, “Ebrahim Raisi must be investigated for crimes against humanity”, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2021/06/iran-ebrahim-raisi-must-be-investigated-for-crimes-against-humanity/
[3] Reuters, 29 June 2021, “U.N. expert backs probe into Iran’s 1988 killings, Raisi’s role”, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/exclusive-un-expert-backs-probe-into-irans-1988-killings-raisis-role-2021-06-29/