Letter to the FBI: Arrest Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Genocide and Conspiracy to Commit Genocide

To Whom It May Concern:

The presence of Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the U.S. for propaganda at the United Nations General Assembly offers an opportunity for the FBI to arrest him for genocide, incitement to genocide, and related crimes.

The United States is a signatory to the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, following ratification by the U.S. Senate in 1985. Under the principle of "universal jurisdiction" that has been established in recent years in such high-profile international war crimes cases as those concerning former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic and former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, it is clear that any state can and indeed must enforce international law by arresting war criminals who enter its area of jurisdiction.

The UN Genocide Convention states, in relevant part:

Article 2: Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3: The following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;

(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;

(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;

(d) Attempt to commit genocide;

(e) Complicity in genocide.

Article 4: Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.

The public record clearly shows that Mr. Ahmadinejad is guilty of all the crimes enumerated. As titular leader of the so-called Islamic Republic of Iran, he bears responsibility for the regime's genocidal attempt to wipe out the members of the Baha'i faith in Iran. See for example, "Iran: End Persecution of Baha’is: Dozens Detained Without Charge; Leaders Face Charges Carrying Death Penalty" (website of Human Rights Watch, February 23, 2010), and Affolter, Friedrich W. "The Specter of Ideological Genocide: The Bahá'ís of Iran" In War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity).

Notoriously, Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, an instance of incitement to genocide. See for example his notorious 2005 statement, "Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. ... Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation." (Haaretz, May 8, 2008) Indeed, according to the official Iranian text of Mr. Ahmadinejad's speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday, he called for the destruction of Israel yet again: "Our unambiguous proposition is the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland and the reference to the vote of the people of Palestine to exercise their sovereignty and decide on the type of governance." Language like this is widely understood to mean that the state of Israel should be dissolved.

It should be unnecessary to add that the Iranian regime is feverishly pursuing nuclear weapons capability, as a means of further carrying out its genocidal aims. This is affirmed by the U.S. government and those of most other nations.

According to news reports, Mr. Ahmadinejad is staying at the Hilton Manhattan East Hotel (formerly the Tudor Hotel) at 304 E. 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours truly,

Martin Berman-Gorvine