Around 200 independent Iranian lawyers made an appeal to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, European Union, UN Security Council, and other relevant international bodies and called for action in the face of the aggression against North-East Syria. The lawyers protested against the illegal attacks by Turkish-backed groups against the Syrian Kurds, warning of their humanitarian and legal consequences.

The joint appeal by Iranian lawyers reads as follows:

“We, a group of independent Iranian lawyers, as defenders of human rights and justice, express our deep concern over the continued military attacks by Turkish-backed groups against Kurdish areas in northern Syria, as well as the targeting of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). These attacks, which clearly violate international law, the UN Charter, and human rights principles, have resulted in heavy human casualties, the displacement of thousands of civilians, and the widespread destruction of essential infrastructure in these areas. Targeting the Syrian Kurds and violating the sovereignty of nations is an act in clear contradiction to the principle of respect for the territorial integrity of States and the right of nations to self-determination.

Now that a new political system must be established in Syria, no state has the right to interfere, either positively or negatively, in the exercise of the right to self-determination of the peoples of another country. Also, all states have positive and negative obligations to respect the right of peoples in other countries to self-determination, which is a peremptory rule of international law. The positive obligation of states is to respond to interference by other states through legal means, and their negative obligation is to refrain from any interference in the exercise of the right to self-determination of those peoples.

In this regard, all states that are members of the international community are obliged, based on Article 41 of the International Responsibility of States, to protect the Kurds and other ethnic and religious minorities in Syria from external interference and violations of their rights.

Our concerns and demands:

1. Violation of international humanitarian law:

Attacks against civilians, destruction of residential areas and vital infrastructure are clear violations of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and other principles of humanitarian law.

2. Displacement and humanitarian crisis:

The continuation of these attacks has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians and is a serious threat to regional and global security. The international community cannot remain silent in the face of such tragedies.

3. Turkey’s support for armed groups:

Turkey’s financial and arms support for groups responsible for war crimes in these areas must be investigated and prosecuted.

Our demands:

Sending an international mission for an independent investigation:

We call on the United Nations and other international institutions to send an independent mission to investigate and document the crimes committed in these areas.

Condemnation and pressure on Turkey:

We call on the international community to take immediate steps to stop these attacks and hold the Turkish government accountable for its violation of human rights principles and international law.

Supporting the rights of the Syrian Kurds:

We call for the support of the Syrian Kurds as one of the most important forces of resistance against international terrorism and defenders of peace and security in the region.

Prosecution and trial:

Legal prosecution and trial of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Kurdish areas of Syria and punishment of their perpetrators in international courts.

We hope that this warning and our request will draw the urgent attention of the international community to this humanitarian and legal crisis and that practical measures will be initiated to end these crimes.”

The signatories of the statement:

1- Abdullah Jahanbin

2 Sanjar Fakhri

3- Sara De Bemehr

4- Azad Eshraghi

5- Iqbal Mehdizadeh

6- Fouad Motavasel

7- Mosleh Ghorbania

8- Najmuddin Jahani

9- Parisa Khademi

10- Reza Modarani

11- Sedighegh Hojjatpanah

12- Farzaneh Rahim

13- Farman Jafari

14- Hooman Jafari

15- Behrouz Amiri

16- Kamel Khalili

17- Sarveh Salimi Aghdam

18- Mohammad Javad Zarei

19- Farhad Majidabadi

20- Naser Dadkhah

21- Omid Darabi

22- Behnam Dastgir

23- Aziz Ebrahimi24- Yaqoub Kadkhodaei

25- Parvaneh Mian Darbandi

26- Kiymarth Ghorbania

27- Abdolsaheb Eskandari

28- Amir Ahmadi

29- Kaveh Asadi

30- Taimur Nadimi

31- Siran Nadimi

32-Parshang Khatri

33-Naseh Razavi

34-Heider Mansouri

35-Esra Moradi

36-Tara Aghabeigi

37_Chia Rahimi

38_Rizan Faridi

39_Sarshin Ghaderi

40_Hedieh Moradi

41_Leila Mansouri

42_Gazizeh Alaei Ardalan

43_Farzad Bani Bashar

44-Loqman Moradi

45-Ebrahim Rostami

46_Kaveh Rahmani

47_Seyed Jamal Hessami

48_Kambiz Ahmadi

49_Farooq Moradi

50-Amir Ziauddini

51-Azad Armi

52_Sarve Zandi

53_Tawfiq Gholami

54_Khosro Mohammad Veisi

55-Gholam Rezaei

56_Yahya Pashabadi

57-Azadeh Ahmadi

58-Azadollah Veisi

59-Asrin Sajjadi Nasab

60_Raouf Admin

61- Behrouz Nalbandi

62- Mostafa Hanifi

63_Ahmad Ajabi

64_Behrouz Sheikhi

65_Varia Mohammadi

66- Mahi Rahmani

67- Siran Nikpi68- Sarvohe Saed Panah

69- Donya Rezaei

70-Khosro Farrokhi

71- Hassan Mohammadi

72- Kamran Karimi

73- Yadollah Ahmadiari

74_ Sabah Kazemi

75_ Ribvar Tofighi

76_ Zhila Zandkarimi

77_ Omid Mohammadinejad

78- Zamaneh Mohabati

79_ Jamshid Nahovi

80_ Samira Hossein Panahi

81_ Nasim Jalalizadeh

82- Bahareh Kamangar

83- Omid Tari Moradi

84- Erfan Arefi

85- Hamed Mohammadi

86- Hossein Ali Shahsvand

87- Fardin Adabi

88- Jamil Akbari

89- Hamed Sohrabi

90- Valiollah Laweh

91- Kazem Mafakhri Bashmagh

92- Abdolbaset Pourzadi

93- Mostafa Ahmadian

94- Fereshteh Panahi

95- Raham Safari

96- Mansour Kolani

97- Shabnam Marvati

98- Mohammad Rasoul Khazaei

99- Arash Amiri

100- Hedayat Khanizadeh

101- Hamed Bahramabadi

102- Akram Mohammadi

103- Pakzad Mahmoudi

104- Abdolreza Rezaei

105- Mohammad Mehdi Rezaei

106- Masoud Zanganeh

107- Maryam Khosravi Moghaddam

108- Farzad Kakaei

109- Shapour Nikandam

110- Narges Mohebbi

111- Hamed Aris112- Mehla Mohammadi

113- Mona Abdi

114- Zeinab Karaniani

115- Hossein Moradgholi

116- Negar Zanganeh

117- Shahin Mohammadi

118- Mehdi Khazaei

119- Mehdi Almasi

120- Mohammad Reza Vakil

121- Sarveh Moradi

122- Yazdan Golmohammadi

123- Moein Asadi

124- Hamed Badfar

125- Jalal Esmaili

126- Behrouz Rostami

127- Saeed Ketabi

128- Hamed Aghaei

130- Mohammad Rajabi

131- Yousef Moradi

132- Sirous Ekhtaari

133- Ali Mardani

134- Maryam Nouri

135- Hamid Alikhani

136- Samira Kazemi

137- Najmeh Shahabadi

138- Seyed Hadi Rahmanzadeh

139- Soheila Darvishi

140- Bahareh Maleki

141- Hamid Reza Piruzinejad

142- Ali Sayadian

143- Sohrab Qazvini Keneshti

144- Majid Alikhani

145- Nahid Hosseini

146- Ali Mohammad Rajabi

147- Zahra Mousavi

148- Zahra Mohammadi

149- Meysam Fallahi

150- Afshin Nouhi

151- Hassan Azar Kian

152- Yaser Yazdanpour

153- Hosna Rostami

154- Roozbeh Fakhri

155- Saeed Karami

156- Yazdan Jafari157- Ayub Babaei

158- Saba Shahbazi

159- Farhad Ahmadian

160- Setareh Fatahi

161- Ruhollah Aram Doost

162- Osman Mazin

163- Masoud Shamsnejad

163- Behnam Dastgir

164- Aziz Ebrahimi

165- Yaghoub Kadkhodaei

166- Parvaneh Mian Darbandi

167- Kiyomars Ghorbaniya

168- Abdolsaheb Eskandari

169- Mohammad Jafar Saed

170- Ali Akbar Mohammadi

171-Mohammad Rahmani

172-Farhad Mafakhri

173-Hamid Mohebbi

174-Meysam Hassani

175-Rasoul Parvin

176-Keyvan Azizi

177- Heshmat Rahmani

178-Nahid Jafari

179-Mohammad Dolatkhah

180-Keyvan Fakhri

181-Hooshang Hamedani

182- Negar Gitavi

183-Sohrab Rostami

184-Asadollah Asadi

185-Reza Modirian

186-Hana Zekri

187-Parasto Tofighi

188-Omran Farrokhabadi

189-Farhad Aslani

190-Abdollatif Valdbeigi

191-Mokhtar Heydarian