Iran brings terror charges over Khamenei assassination

Shafaq News- Tehran

Iran's judiciary has issued an indictment over the US-Israeli attack that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and four of his family members on Feb. 28, and has referred the case to court for trial, Tehran's public and revolutionary prosecutor Ali Salehi said on Saturday.

Mizan, the Iranian judiciary's news agency, quoted Salehi as saying the indictment covers everyone authorities hold responsible for the killings, including the direct perpetrators, their agents and those accused of initiating the operation.

The central charge is participation in "corruption on earth" (efsad-e fel-arz), an offense under Iranian law that can carry the death penalty, committed through what the indictment calls a terrorist act against the country's most senior official.

According to the indictment, the attack sought to damage Iran's system of government and to force a change in state policy by killing its highest political and religious authority. Salehi said that the finding establishes criminal liability for the perpetrators, for those who ordered the attack and for those who planned it, under both Iranian law and international instruments on countering terrorism.

A separate section of the indictment addresses the deaths of Khamenei's daughter, his daughter-in-law, his son-in-law and a 14-month-old grandchild. It argues that such an attack cannot be judged solely by its declared target, and that the killing of women, children and other civilians cannot be set aside as incidental loss of life and placed outside the definition of terrorism.

Salehi said the indictment draws on Iranian law together with international law and international humanitarian law, citing in particular the rules protecting civilians and prohibiting such attacks.

He added that the indictment is meant to serve as a legal basis for Tehran to pursue, in international forums, those who ordered and carried out the killings.

Minab School Attack

A second indictment concerns the US attack that killed 168 schoolchildren at the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, a city in southern Iran. Investigators completed their inquiry before the charges were filed and referred the case to court, Salehi said, adding that charges had been brought against all those prosecutors considered responsible.

Both indictments have been sent to court for trial and a ruling, according to the prosecutor.