Iran sues U.S. in world court for helping Saddam kill Iranians
Translated from Der Spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,236508,00.html
A strange spectacle in court: As the USA prepares for a war against
Iraq, it is being sued by Iran for its previous close relationship to
Saddam Hussein. At the International Court of Justice, Teheran is
accusing the United States of delivering dangerous chemicals and deadly
viruses to Baghdad during the eighties.
The Hague - The oral deposition in Iran's suit against the United States
in the matter of the destruction of Iranian oil platforms in 1987/88
began on Monday. The suit was presented to the highest court of the
United Nations in 1992 and has been handled in writing ever since.
Teheran accuses Washington of the destruction of three oil platforms in
the Persial Gulf. The US argues that the attack was in retaliation of
Iranian attacks of ships sailing under the American flag. The court has
scheduled three weeks to hear arguments from both sides.
The Iranian representatives accuse the USA of having provided Iraq with
raw materials for chemical and biological weapons at the end of the
80's. The US government had delivered dangerous chemicals and deadly
viruses to the Iraqi government for its war.
Washington had provided aid to Iraq in this, and other ways, in its war
against Iran, said Iran's representative at the start of the oral
depositions.
Mohamat Zahedin-Labbaf, as the spokesman of the Iranian delegation,
emphasized that the US could not dispute the destruction of the
platforms. The US version, that it had been a matter of defense against
Iranian missile attacks of ships under the US flag doesn't hold water,
he said.
In any case, the USA had violated the Friendship Treaty which both
countries had signed in 1955. It is this Treaty which constitutes the
legal basis for these proceedings, according to a 1996 decision by the
highest court of the United Nations. Both delegations will be able to
argue their positions in detail during the next three weeks.
Professor Bruno Summa, a German expert on international law, was sworn
in as the new judge at the beginning of the proceedings on Monday. The
longtime University Professor at the University of Munich was elected as
one of the 15 regular judges of the Supreme Court in the Hague Peace Palace.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Mar 01 2003 - 01:00:06 PST