US-Israeli war crimes amid international silence
Rasoul Mousavi
Vice president of Iran’s Islamic Azad University
The United States and the Zionist regime, by attacking the Islamic Republic of Iran, have violated numerous human principles and international laws, including human rights and international conventions concerning the protection of civilians, universities, and religious figures. In this regard, Islamic Azad University, as one of the largest non-state, in-person universities globally, in order to inform international forums and document these crimes, points to just a few examples of the violent actions of these two aggressors.
Assassination of Iran’s political-religious leader & supreme spiritual authority for Muslims worldwide
This act, occurring in peacetime, is a clear violation of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (inviolability of religious figures) and Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (prohibition of incitement to violence against religions). Threatening his life is a direct threat to the spiritual identity of millions worldwide.
Destruction of scientific, academic centers
Universities, as centers of knowledge, awareness, academic discourse, and the education of future generations, enjoy special protection under international law. In the attacks by the American-Israeli coalition, by the fourth week of the war, 154 academic sections in 21 universities across the country had been targeted. Among these, the Agricultural Research Center of Islamic Azad University’s Science and Research Branch, the research and educational buildings of Iran University of Science and Technology, the Electrical Engineering Faculty of Khajeh Nasir University of Technology, and Isfahan University of Technology suffered serious damage. These actions are a clear violation of Article 52 of the Geneva Conventions and customary rules of international humanitarian law.
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