POLICE INVESTIGATIONS ISSUED AGAINST HASHEMI RAFSANJANI IN BELGIUM
BRUSSELS 3rd Mar. (IPS) A Belgian judge has ordered police to investigate allegations that former Iranian President ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is guilty of crimes against humanity, Agence France Press (AFP) quoted officials in the Belgian capital.
Judge Damien Vandermeersch order the probe in response to a complaint filed February 10 by an unidentified Iranian-born Belgian national, the Brussels prosecutor's office said.
The complaint accused Rafsanjani of being responsible for kidnappings, torture, harassment, physical and psychological violence perpetrated between April 1983 and February 1989 in Tehran and two other Iranian cities.
In articles published in the reformist press, Iranian investigative and political journalists have charged Mr. Rafsanjani for corruption, nepotism, embezzlement of public funds, abuse of power, enriching himself and his family, the assassination of more than eighty Iranian political and intellectual dissidents and above all his role in the conduct of war against Iraq.
Mr. Vandermeersch office contacted Friday by Iran Press Service refused to answer questions. "The Judge is out of the country until 13th of the month and we are not authorised to answer questions on the phone", a secretary indicated.
Considering existing warm relations between the European Union and Iran in the one hand and the high position Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani still enjoys, observers doubted that Brussels would seriously follow up the case.
Mr. Vandermeersch is the same Judge who introduced complaints against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Germany issued an international arrest mandate in 1997 against hojatoleslam Ali Fallahian who was Iranian Intelligence Minister under Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani's presidency.
Nicknameed "Red Excellency", Mr. Fallahian is accused by the independent press for having covered, if not masterminded the murder of tens of Iranian dissidents both inside and outside Iran.
Stockholm-based Iranian lawyer Sa'id Mahmoudi said in case the information is correct, it will take a "very, very longtime" before legal procedures could be introduced as the complaint relates to a period that Belgium had not yet ratified the European Union's recently ratified laws regarding crime against humanity.
"However, if Belgium has delivered an international warrant against Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, it means that if he travels to any European Union member country he would get arrested at the airport", Mr. Mahmoudi pointed out.
He said crime against humanity is still a very general concept very difficult to establish on one complaint alone and even if introduced, Mr. Rafsanjani could hardly be brought to trial, as we see with (Serbian President) Milosevic.
Considering the fragile situation the former president faces at home and the fact that his election is subject of controversy, some Iranian sources speculated that the complaint may be a calculated move to further embarrass the man who symbolises a regime the Iranian voters in huge majority rejected at the recent polls.
Mr. Rafsanjani had entered the Majles elections with eyes fixed on the presidency of the parliament and being certain of becoming the capital's number one vote catcher, but he almost lost the race and was "pushed" into the house as Tehran's last candidate.
Alongside the Expediency Council's Chairman humiliating blow, both the conservatives who controlled the Majles for the last 20 years and the leader of the regime, ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i also were dealt a devastating defeat after the reformists who supports President Mohammad Khatami won an outright majority in the first round of elections.
"Whatever decision Judge Vandermeersch might have taken, the fact is that the world is no longer a safe place for past, present and future dictators", Mr. Mahmoudi said drawing a comparison with the fate of General Pinochet. ENDS RAFSANJANI WARRANT 3300