A large number of Iranian people, including salesmen, traders and economic activists, gathered in front of the UN office in Tehran on Tuesday to voice support for the oppressed Yemeni people who have been under the Saudi-led coalition’s brutal attacks for more than three years.
“The ferocious acts of the Western-Hebrew-Arab coalition led by the Saudi Arabia accompanied clearly by the US and the Zionist’s infanticide regime in the unequal war against the suppressed people of Yemen have culminated in the death and injuries of hundreds of civilians especially children in the bombings,” the statement said.
“But this unequal war which has left tremendous harm such as famine and outbreak of many diseases among the displaced people of Yemen due to the blockades on food and drug aid, are only a few obvious tyranny of the Saudi regime against the truth seeking people of Yemen. The Saudi’s desperate efforts which took place with the assistance of other colonial States to capture (al-Hudaydah), and threatened over 600,000 people of the region were hopefully foiled by God’s assistance and the valor of Yemeni militants and gave the enemies another lesson,” it added.
Stressing that today, is the day of unanimity and unity of Muslims against the shameless crimes of the Saudi regime in Yemen, ruthless crimes supported by Western Services and certainly the deadly silence of the dependent and falsifying international news media, the statement added, “The State’s Merchants, Guilds and Economic activists hereby condemn these crimes and declare their steadfastness and support of the defenseless Yemeni people and stress that they would stand by the defenseless Yemeni Muslims till the complete restoration of peace and security of Yemeni people.”
“Moreover, while we, the State’s merchants, Guilds and Economic Activists, condemn the ruthless killings of the innocent people of Yemen, especially women and children and criticize the responses of the international and regional organizations and agencies on the fulfillment of their commitments towards the human catastrophe in Yemen, ask for the immediate fulfillment of international community’s commitments in accordance to the following international rules: Paragraph (4) Article (38) of Children’s Rights Treaty has stressed taking all possible measures to guarantee support and care of children subject to any harm during armed conflicts. In regards to the Saudi Arabia’s military measures, which not only kill innocent children but also end in disability, orphanage, lack of their access to education, health, food and ……., it is necessary that aerial strikes against Yemen stop and the issue of addressing the harmed children begin.”
It added that under Article (23) of Fourth Geneva Convention which mandates that: Every committed State is obliged to allow the passage of vital human needs such as packages of food and drug, and the international laws regarding the rights of humans to have food, water, clothing and the rights of passage even during armed clashes are in progress, noting, “Therefore any prevention from sending food and drug assistance to Yemen will result in the violation of this article and article (33) of the said Convention, as well. Therefore; while emphasizing the existence of human crisis in Yemen due to shortage of food, treatment, medicine and …… facilities, the access of the Yemeni people to these facilities are stressed. Iran’s Guilds and Merchants volunteer to send humanitarian aids.”
“In addition to the above issues, the killing of the defenseless people such as women and children, destroying public, residential, historical, hospital buildings and economic infrastructures and striking food convoys, as well, are all considered as war crimes and crimes against humanity in accordance to international conventions,” the statement said.
It underlined the necessary for the international and regional organizations to use all their legal capacities to support humanity in Yemen so that the violators of human and humanitarian rights are brought to justice, and added, “International organizations like the United Nations and regional organizations such as Islamic Co-operations Organization and Non-Aligned Movement need to hold extraordinary sessions to identify the right to determine the destiny of Yemeni people under Article (1) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Fundamental demand of the international community based on the international conventions, is immediate trial of the Saudi’s heads of states and their partners as war criminals.”
“Moreover, the said organizations pursue the enforcement of the principle of lack of coercion against the integrity of other countries under Paragraph (4) Article (2) of the Unites Nations Charter,” the statement said.
“In the end, ensuring respect to the international rights in Yemen which has been declared binding to all countries in Geneva quadruple Conventions 1949 and it takes place according to international resolve,” it concluded.
Saudi Arabia and some of its allies, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan, launched a brutal war against Yemen in March 2015 with the US support in an attempt to reinstall Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
The aggression initially consisted of a bombing campaign but was later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces to Yemen. Around 20,000 people have died since the war began, says Yemen’s Health Ministry.
The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The United Nations (UN) has said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.
Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.
According to several reports, the Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen has driven the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster, as Saudi Arabia’s deadly campaign prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country.