Iran Calls on UN to Punish Riyadh for War Crimes in Yemen

The Secretary General of Iran's Judiciary Human Rights Office Kazem Qaribabadi, in a letter sent Tuesday to Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has condemned the attacks by the so-called Saudi-led and US-backed coalition, while calling on the body to use all possible means to find the perpetrators and promoters of these war crimes.

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Referring to the most recent offensive of the Saudi regime, carried out on January 21 against a temporary detention center in the province of Saada, northwest of Yemen, in which over a 100 people were killed and 260 others were wounded, Qaribabadi defined what happened as "a criminal, cruel and inhuman act that violates all the principles of international law".

The Persian official pointed out that the said coalition has carried out more than 839 airstrikes against the Yemeni population, residential buildings and public infrastructure this month alone.

"Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law. The principles of segregation, proportionality, and necessity are not observed at all during such barbaric attacks," the letter reads.

"The Yemeni people," the text continues, "have sacrificed their lives over the past six years to exercise their rights to self-determination and independence, only to lament that human rights defenders deliberately turn a blind eye to crimes against Yemenis." 

Also, Qaribabadi has called on Bachelet for the United Nations (UN) to prevent violence, facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the stricken nation and hold the Saudi-led coalition and its allies accountable for their criminal acts.

In March 2015, the so-called Saudi coalition, backed by the U.S., launched a war campaign against the Yemeni nation to restore fugitive former Yemeni president Abdu Rabu Mansur Hadi to power and crush the popular Ansarollah movement. However, they have failed to achieve their objectives, thanks to the growing power of Yemen's forces.

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