TEHRAN - An online panel entitled as “Extraterritorial Breaching Cases of Human Rights” was held on the sidelines of the 52nd Regular Session of UN Human Rights Council on Thursday to hold accountable all culprits in assassinating Iranian anti-terror commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.

Participants also called for the need to punish the perpetrators and commanders involved in the major general’s assassination.

Headed by Iran’s Permanent Ambassador in Geneva-based UN Office Ali Bahraini, the panel was held in the presence of various officials including countries’ ambassadors, thinkers and analysts. 

Ambassador Bahraini stressed that the assassination of General Soleimani was a terrorist act and the Iranian nation would not stop pursuing justice. 

“The illegal nature of that criminal act, in terms of obvious violation of international laws and human rights, and the short-term and long-term aftermaths of it on lawfulness and regional peace and security, necessitate accountability of entire concerned international organizations, making its creators accountable, and seek justice for its victims,” Bahraini noted. 

“This terrorist act was not only breaching the laws and international order, but also an extraordinary challenge for preservation of the norms and the basic standards of the human rights in terms of respecting the individuals' right to live,” he continued. 

Later, the head of the Special Committee for Legal and International Pursuance of Martyr Soleimani’s Terroristic Assassination, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaie, explained the steps taken to ensure justice in that case.

The United States was to blame for this injustice and blatant violation of human rights, Kadkhodaie asserted, urging the rest of the world to denounce Washington’s actions as a serious danger to world peace and stability.

He also cited former UN Rapporteur Agnes Kallamard, who had labeled the brutal assassination of Soleimani as a heinous crime, calling Americans accountable for the crime as well as for violating the UN Charter.