Capacities of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Judiciary in Supporting the Victims of International Humanitarian Law Violations in the Yemen War

Abstract

The legal-political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is based on the convergence of the Muslims in the world as a single nation (ummah) and is required by the Constitution to base its general policy on the coalition and unity of Islamic nations, is seeking to defend rights of all Muslims and support the rightful struggle of the oppressed against the arrogant everywhere in the world. The judiciary, as one of the high sovereign bodies in this system, is committed to observe these principles and general policies. This important issue has been appropriately emphasized in the Judicial Transformation Document announced in 2021 as legal support for the Resistance Front. Therefore, given the military intervention of the Saudi-led Arab states in Yemen and the violation of the rights of the Yemeni people as a result of ignoring the rules of human rights and humanitarian law, the main question that the present study, through a descriptive-analytic method, seeks to answer is that how can the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran play a role in supporting the Muslims of this country? The result is that the gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Yemen are clear examples of war crimes regarding which the acceptance of the principle of universal jurisdiction in the Islamic Penal Code has enabled the judiciary with the capacity to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes. However, the use of this capacity requires the amendment and enactment of domestic law as well as the use of structural facilities in the judiciary.

Keywords

• yemen war
• humanitarian law
• supporting the world's oppressed
• the judiciary