IRANIAN DISSIDENTS WELCOME TRIAL OF MILOSEVIC BY UN WAR CRIMES COURT
PARIS 28 June (IPS) Iranian human rights activists, dissidents and opponents of the Islamic Republic welcomed Friday the transfer from Belgrade to the United Nations Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity in The Hague, calling it a "great victory for international justice and law" and said it was a "warning" to other world’s dictators.
"This is a victory for law and justice, for the hundreds and thousands
of the victims of dictators throughout the world and it is a warning to them
that their era of ignoring human rights with impunity is over", Dr.
Karim Lahiji of the Iranian League for Human Rights.
Milosevic is the first Head of state to stand trial before an international tribunal for acts committed under his rule. He stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Milosevic was flown to The Hague only hours after a dramatic twist in which the Serbian government, anxious to obtain desperately needed donor aid at a conference Friday in Brussels, brushed aside a decision of Yugoslavia's top court to freeze the handover, the French news agency AFP said.
World leaders also hailed the event, calling it an "historic day for justice" and a step forward for Belgrade.
Thanking the United States, France, Germany and Great Britain, Ms. Carla del Ponte, the Swiss president of the Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said the transfer of Milosovic to the ICTY’s prison is an "important day for bringing to justice all those who committed crimes against humanity".
US President George W. Bush said the handover of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sent "an unequivocal message to those persons who brought such tragedy and brutality to the Balkans that they will be held accountable for their crimes."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the move "a thoroughly good thing," while French President Jacques Chirac said it was "great progress for the universal conscience."
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder hailed the handover as a "great success for international efforts for justice".
"Today's events will facilitate even more the efforts to construct a future of peace and prosperity in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Balkans as a whole" said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who was NATO Chief when the Alliance launched a 78-day air war against Milosevic regime.
Croatian President Stipe Mesic voiced satisfaction that Milosevic had finally been extradited, saying it was a moment he had anticipated for a decade.
Tehran Radio reported the news without any comment, but in Moscow, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin condemned the transfer.
ICTY officials have said Milosevic also would likely be indicted for crimes against humanity committed in Bosnia -- scene of the most murderous conflict in Europe since World War II -- and possibly Croatia.
In the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and later in the process of "ethnic cleansing" undertaken by Milosevic in Kosovo, more that 300.000 people have been killed, mostly ethnic Muslims and Croatians.
"Tyrants are now told that nothing would be like the past. They are told that their transfer to the justice is no more a wishful thinking", DR. Lahiji, who is also a deputy to the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues told Iran Press Service on the phone.
Referring to crimes committed by the Iranian clerical rulers, Mr. Lahiji observed that acts of crime against humanity and mankind are not covered by time laps.
In his "Memoirs" published on the internet, Iran’s veteran dissident Grand Ayatollah Montazeri revealed that on orders from Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the then ruler of the Islamic Republic, thousands of political prisoners had been executed in Iranian prisons in few days.
In Mr. Lahiji’s view, the important is that like in Latin America or in the Republic of South Africa, Iran also develops its own "history memory".
"Iranian leaders must be brought to courts of justice for crimes they have committed in the past 22 years and which they continue even today. This is necessary for the Iranian people in order they finally realise that criminals, being heads of states, are no more immune to punishment", he said.
Western nations, especially the United States, have strongly pressured Belgrade to co-operate with the UN war crimes court, making the transfer of war crimes suspects a condition of continued economic support for Yugoslavia.
At Friday's conference, the 35 or so donor nations will be called upon to pledge 1.25 billion dollars (1.48 billion dollars) for the coming year. ENDS MILOSEVIC 29601