PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release 14th February 2020
CALL TO BAN IRAN’S FOREIGN MINISTER FROM
MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE
The International Committee ‘In Search of Justice’ (ISJ) has written to Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, Chair of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) asking him to withdraw the invitation to Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister of Iran. Zarif is scheduled to address the MSC, which will be held on 14th and 15thFebruary. He will be joined by more than 450 senior decision-makers as well as prime ministers and presidents from around the world. President of the ISJ – Alejo Vidal-Quadras, former senior vice president of the European Parliament, stated from Brussels: “Zarif has been listed as a terrorist by the US State Department. In January he was banned from entering the US to attend a UN Security Council meeting. Why then, is Europe still willing to extend the hand of friendship to this listed terrorist?”
Mr Vidal Quadras continued: “As Foreign Minister, Zarif is in charge of Iran’s army of ambassadors and diplomatic staff. In June 2018, he was therefore responsible for the orders given to Assadollah Assadi, a diplomat from the Iranian Embassy in Vienna. Assadi was allegedly instructed to hand over 500gms of high explosives and a detonator to an Iranian couple from Antwerp. He allegedly ordered them to drive to Paris and detonate the bomb at a major rally organised by the National Council for Resistance in Iran (NCRI) and attended by over 100,000 people. A combined operation by the German, French and Belgian intelligence services led to the arrest of Assadi and the other conspirators, all of whom are now in prison in Belgium, awaiting trial on charges of terrorism. This was only one of a number of bomb plots and attempted assassinations that can be directly linked to the Iranian Foreign Minister.
“With this catalogue of assassinations and bomb plots involving Iranian diplomatic personnel under the leadership and guidance of Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, it is not surprising that the US has decided to label him as a terrorist. Yet the West continues to believe that his mastery of English and his benign smile mean that he must be a trustworthy moderate with whom we can negotiate. Giving this person a platform in Munich was a big mistake, particularly because Zarif, like Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a
About ISJ:
International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) was initially formed in 2008 as an informal group of EU parliamentarians to seek justice for the Iranian democratic opposition. In 2014 it was registered as a non-profit NGO in Brussels expanding its membership beyond elected parliamentarians to former officials and other dignitaries with an interest to promote human rights, freedom, democracy, peace and stability.
holocaust denier. He is on record as refusing to condemn the statement by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the holocaust was a myth. Zarif claimed lamely that the statement, which appeared on Khamenei’s English-language website, was a mis-translation.
“Allowing Zarif to address the security conference in Munich, during the year which marks the 75thanniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, is a serious error. Zarif, as both a holocaust denier and a sponsor of state terrorism, should be placed on the EU terrorist blacklist and arrested next time he sets foot in Europe.”
cc. Letter from ISJ to Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About ISJ:
The International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ) was initially formed in 2008 as an informal group of EU parliamentarians to seek justice for the Iranian democratic opposition. In 2014 it was registered as a non-profit NGO in Brussels expanding its membership beyond elected parliamentarians to former officials and other dignitaries with an interest to promote human rights, freedom, democracy, peace and stability.
If you have a request for an Interview with the following ISJ officials, please send an email to the Secretariat@isjcommittee.com
ALEJO VIDAL-QUADRAS
President ISJ, Spanish professor of atomic and nuclear physics. Vice-president of the European Parliament from (1999-2014).
GIULIO TERZI
Chair ISJ Committee on the Protection of Human Rights & Justice in Iran, Minister Foreign Affairs Italy 2011-2013, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations in New York 2008-2009 and Ambassador of Italy to the United States 2009- 2011.
STRUAN STEVENSON
Chair ISJ Committee on the Protection of Political Freedoms in Iran, Member of the European Parliament representing Scotland 1999-2014. President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq (2009-14) and chairman of Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (2004-14).
