Three Iranians living in Switzerland requested the arrest of Ebrahim Raïssi, Iran’s president who was scheduled to visit Geneva on Wednesday, reported RTS. Raïssi later cancelled his visit, reported the newspaper Le Temps.
Three Iranians, supported by more than 300 petitioners, requested the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) arrest the president while he was in Geneva attending a the UN Global Refugee Forum.
The request demanded the opening of an investigation into genocide and crimes against humanity. It also accused Raïssi of participating in torture and extrajudicial executions during the 1988 massacre when tens of thousands of people disappeared or died. At the time Raïssi was the Deputy Prosecutor-General of Teheran.
The three accusers pointed out that diplomatic immunity does not apply to crimes against humanity. One of the three was among 150 people that escaped from a group of 5,000 detainees. The other two spent 10 years in prison in Iran.
On Wednesday, Le Temps reported that Raïssi would not attend the forum. Iranian diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian would be sent instead, according to the UN High Commissioner.
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