Behind the Headlines

Behind the Headlines – Tuesday 3 September 2019

Jamshid Chalangi:

Tonight we will look at the latest news of human rights violations in Iran where two cases of them have been referred to US Federal Courts of Justice.

They are related to the suicide of Siamak Pourzand, the Iranian journalist who had been jailed for many years on charges of espionage, and the case of Abbas Amir Entezam, former spokesman for the post-revolution government of Bazargan.

Our guest tonight to discuss these cases is Mr Ali Harischi, attorney at law, who is representing the Pourzand family in US courts.

We heard through Mrs Mehrangiz Kaar on this program that Mr Harischi has taken up the case of Siamak Pourzand on the grounds that he committed suicide as a result of the pressures that he was under in prison. We would like to know how this case could proceed in an American court of justice.

Mr Ali Harischi:

I have actually filed two cases of complaint for the late Mr Pourzand in US courts, one from Mrs Kaar and another from Banafsheh, his daughter.

There is an international convention on security and legal matters that justice systems of different countries cannot interfere in one another’s legal matters.

However, in United States a new bill has passed that rejects this immunity on the grounds that those countries who support international terrorism and are in the black list of the State Department are exempt from this convention and if they have been involved in an act of terrorism against a US citizen they can be brought to justice in US courts.

We have made use of this law as the case of my clients has been addressed in Iranian courts and the country is in the list of the State Department.

Already several notices and summons have been sent to the relevant sources in Iran through diplomatic channels but as Iran does not have an embassy in US we are still waiting to hear back from them and my guess is this will take a six months time before we could deal with the cases.

Jamshid Chalangi:

Could the Iranian regime use the same channel and claim that a member of its lobbies in US has been “tortured” here and sue the American government, as was the case of the Press TV’s reporter?

Mr Ali Harischi:

Each country has its own domestic laws and act on them accordingly. I doubt Iran has passed any such law to retaliate but I do not know much about their laws.