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Cotler Heads Petition Drive to Stop Iran Threat

(Jerusalem Post) Dan Izenberg - Canadian human rights activist and former justice minister Irwin Cotler is spearheading a petition that calls on governments and the UN to take immediate and massive diplomatic and economic action against Iran. Cotler accused the Iranian government of violating international law regarding nuclear weapons development, incitement to genocide, state-sponsored terrorism and human rights. "For sanctions to be effective, what is needed is the will to act, and what has been absent so far has been political will with respect to each of the threats," said Cotler. The petition calls for asking the UN Security Council to file a complaint against Tehran with the International Criminal Court. "Iran has already committed the crime of incitement to genocide," said Cotler. "We do not have to wait and should never wait for the actual beginning of atrocities before taking action." Signers include Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz; British MP Denis MacShane; Bassam Eid, executive director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group; Prof. Suzanne Stone of the Cardozo School of Law; former deputy prime minister of Sweden Per Ahlmark, former minister of justice and foreign affairs of Bangladesh Kamal Hossain, former Canadian prime minister John Turner, and author Elie Wiesel.
2010-01-08 08:34:33
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