News ID: 216

Date: 31 December 2022 - 22:09

‘Indictment of Gen. Soleimani's assassination case nearing final stages’

An Iranian academic and legal expert said the indictment in the case of the 2020 assassination of Iran's anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani by the US is nearing its final stages.

Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who heads a special committee formed to follow up on General Soleimani’s murder case from legal and international aspects, made the remarks on Saturday while addressing a meeting on the fight against terrorism and extremism in West Asia.

He said Iran's Judiciary and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have carried out positive measures to precisely pursue the case and expressed hope that good results would be achieved.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry is pursuing measures through international circles based on the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents.

General Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-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 Baghdad International Airport was authorized by then-President Donald Trump.

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

Kadkhodaei further said the US had violated all international obligations and committed a big crime by assassinating General Soleimani.

"This is an unforgivable crime and the American officials who committed this crime and accepted responsibility for it must be tried and punished for their action," Kadkhodaei, who is an advisor to foreign minister, added.

He said Daesh was a creation of the US, stressing that the terrorist group has committed all its crimes with Washington's green light.

"The US tries to resort to every means to secure its illegitimate interests," the Iranian official pointed out.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Kadkhodaei said Iraq's judiciary and officials are also pursuing the assassination case and hoped the efforts would lead to fruitful results.

Addressing the 77th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi called for prosecution of Trump, stressing that Iran will pursue the assassination of General Soleimani.

The president hailed Iran's "prominent and progressive" role in confronting high-handed and interventionist policies, including the "United States-crafted terrorism."