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Combating State-Sanctioned Incitement to Genocide: A Legal and Moral Imperative

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Confronting Genocide

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 7))

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Abstract

This article reviews Canadian jurisprudence on freedom of expression and hate speech, as well as case law on incitement to genocide from ICTR decisions Akayesu, Ruggiu, Kambanda and Bikindi and from the Supreme Court of Canada’s Mugesera decision. On the basis of international and domestic precedents for incitement to genocide, the article argues that the Iranian government under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad engages in state-sanctioned incitement to genocide against Israel through means including delegitimization, dehumanization, and Holocaust denial. The article further argues that there is a moral and legal imperative to stop the Iranian government’s incitement to genocide through recourses including referrals to the appropriate UN agencies, to the International Criminal Court, to the International Court of Justice, and through the use of sanctions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    R. v. Andrews , 3 S.C.R. 870 [1990], 881.

  2. 2.

    Special Committee on Hate Propaganda in Canada, Report of the Special Committee on Hate Propaganda in Canada, Minister of Justice, Canada (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1966), 179–180.

  3. 3.

    Constitution Act, 1982, Part I, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c. 11 [the “Charter” or the “ Charter of Rights and Freedoms ”].

  4. 4.

    Switzman v. Elbling, S.C.R. 285 [1957].

  5. 5.

    Ibid., 306.

  6. 6.

    The recourse to “freedom of expression ” arguments and the distinction between expressive speech and other-regarding speech are examined in Mark Thompson, Chapter 6 (above).

  7. 7.

    The insufficiency of hate speech protections and the need to develop an ethics of communication are discussed in Mark Thompson, Chapter 6 (above).

  8. 8.

    R. v. Keegstra , 3 S.C.R. 697 [1990].

  9. 9.

    Canada (Human rights commission) v. Taylor , 3 S.C.R. 892 [1990].

  10. 10.

    Keegstra , 762–765.

  11. 11.

    Ibid., 746, 756 and 758.

  12. 12.

    Ibid., 746–747, 756 and 758.

  13. 13.

    Ibid., 754.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., 755–758.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., 746–749 and 758.

  16. 16.

    Ibid., 748.

  17. 17.

    Beauharnais v. Illinois, 343 U.S. 250 (1952), 304 (Jackson J., dissenting).

  18. 18.

    Abraham Goldstein, “Group Libel and Criminal Law: Walking on the Slippery Slope.” (Paper presentation, International Legal Colloquium on Racial and Religious Hatred and Group Libel, Tel Aviv University, Israel , 1991) 3.

  19. 19.

    Note, however, that the concept of punishing those who engage in direct and public incitement to genocide pre-dates the ICTR significantly. See, e.g., Julius Streicher Case, Nuremberg Proceedings, Vol. 22 (September 30, 1946), 502.

  20. 20.

    Prosecutor v. Akayesu , Case no. ICTR -96-4-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber) (2 September 1998), para. 562.

  21. 21.

    The Akayesu trial judgment was affirmed on appeal, 1 June 2001. The Trial Chamber decision remains a cornerstone precedent in international incitement law : see, e.g., Mugesera v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2 S.C.R. 100 [2005] paras. 84, 86 and 88; Prosecutor v. Bikindi , Case no. ICTR -01-72-T, Judgment (Trial Chambers) (December 2, 2008), para. 387.

  22. 22.

    Prosecutor v. Akayesu , para. 551. Emphasis added.

  23. 23.

    Ibid., para. 560. Emphasis added.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., para. 556.

  25. 25.

    Ibid., para. 557.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., paras. 557–558.

  27. 27.

    Prosecutor v. Nahimana, Barayagwiza and Ngeze, Case no. ICTR -99-62-T, Judgment and Sentence (December 3, 2003) [the “ Media Case ”], para. 1022. The Appeals Chamber affirmed the importance of context in evaluating incitement in its judgment in the same case on 28 November 2007, paras. 697, 701 and 703.

  28. 28.

    Prosecutor v. Ruggiu , Case no. ICTR -97-21-I, Judgment and Sentence (June 1, 2000).

  29. 29.

    Ibid., paras. 44(iii)–(iv).

  30. 30.

    Prosecutor v. Nahimana, Barayagwiza and Ngeze.

  31. 31.

    See Gregory Gordon , “From Incitement to Indictment?: Prosecuting Iran ’s President for Advocating Israel ’s Destruction and Piecing Together Incitement Law’s Emerging Analytical Framework,” in Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 98, No. 3 (March 2008): 874–878.

  32. 32.

    The prevalence of subtle forms of incitement is addressed in Mark Thompson, Chapter 6 (above).

  33. 33.

    Prosecutor v. Nahimana, Barayagwiza and Ngeze, para. 1001.

  34. 34.

    Ibid. The case being referenced by the Trial Chamber is the Jersild case, decided by the European Court of Human Rights : Jersild v. Denmark , 19 Eur. Ct. H.R. 1 (1995).

  35. 35.

    Faurisson v. France , CCPR/C/58/D/550/1993 (1996).

  36. 36.

    United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976.

  37. 37.

    Prosecutor v. Nahimana, Barayagwiza and Ngeze, para. 1001.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., para. 1004. The case being referenced by the Trial Chamber is the Zana case: Zana v. Turkey , ECHR, 1997-VII, no. 57.

  39. 39.

    Prosecutor v. Nahimana,Barayagwiza and Ngeze, para. 1008.

  40. 40.

    “The Appeals Chamber has a certain difficulty with these paragraphs. It notes, on the one hand, that the relevant issue is not whether the author of the speech is from the majority ethnic group or supports the government’s agenda (and by implication, whether it is necessary to apply a stricter standard), but rather whether the speech in question constitutes direct incitement to commit genocide. On the other hand, it recognises that the political or community affiliation of the author of a speech may be regarded as a contextual element which can assist in its interpretation:” Prosecutor v. Nahimana, Barayagwiza and Ngeze, para. 713.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., para. 715.

  42. 42.

    See Prosecutor v. Kambanda , Case no. ICTR 97-23-S, Judgment and Sentence (September 4, 1998).

  43. 43.

    Prosecutor v. Bikindi , Case no. ICTR -01-72-T, Judgment (Trial Chambers) (December 2, 2008).

  44. 44.

    Ibid., para. 425.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., para. 380.

  46. 46.

    R. v. Keegstra ; R. v. Andrews ; and Canada (Human rights commission) v. Taylor .

  47. 47.

    Mugesera v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2 S.C.R. 100 [2005].

  48. 48.

    Ibid., paras. 84–85.

  49. 49.

    See Benjamin Weinthal, “German official was at anti-Israel rally,” Jerusalem Post, October 15, 2008, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1222017532585 (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  50. 50.

    See, e.g., Middle East Media Research Institute, for video evidence of numerous “Death to Israel ” chants, http://www.memritv.org/content/en/search.htm (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  51. 51.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech on February 20, 2008). See “UN Chief: Ahmadinejad’s verbal attacks on Israel intolerable,” Ha’aretz, February 21, 2008, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/956306.html (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  52. 52.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, October 26, 2005). See Joshua Teitelbaum, “Analysis: Iran ’s talk of destroying Israel must not get lost in translation,” Jerusalem Post, June 22, 2008, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1213794295236 (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  53. 53.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speaking on the 60th anniversary of Israel ’s founding, May 8, 2008). See “Ahmadinejad calls Zionist regime a ‘stinking corpse’,” Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), May 8, 2008, http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/pdf/Archive/Soc/soc.iranian/2008-07/msg00228.pdf.culture (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  54. 54.

    The recourse to dehumanizing sanitary metaphors is examined in Yehuda Bauer, Chapter 7, Section 7.2 (above).

  55. 55.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, March 1, 2007). See “Zionist regime offspring of Britain , nurtured by US – Ahmadinejad,” Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), March 1, 2007. http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-239/0703015352005938.htm (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  56. 56.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, broadcast on the Iranian News Channel (IRINN), August 1, 2006).

  57. 57.

    See, e.g., George Jahn, “IAEA info suggests Iran worked on nuclear missile,” Associated Press, September 16, 2008. For UN Security Council Resolutions on Iran’s nuclear program, see S/RES/1696 (2006); S/RES/1737 (2006); S/RES/1747 (2007); S/RES/1803 (2008); see also S/RES/1835 (2008).

  58. 58.

    See Teitelbaum, “Analysis,” 2008.

  59. 59.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech delivered at the United Nations General Assembly , September 23, 2008, trans. Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran News Service).

  60. 60.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech at the “World Without Zionism Conference,” Tehran, October 27, 2005).

  61. 61.

    See Petition, “Danger of a Genocidal and Nuclear Iran : The Responsibility to Prevent,” (petition released by the author and signed by leading jurists, genocide experts and survivors ). http://www.irwincotler.parl.gc.ca/documents/081209_petition.pdf (Accessed June 4, 2009) for evidence detailing these points.

  62. 62.

    Secretary-General Kofi Annan , (address to the Commission on Human Rights, 7 April 2004).

  63. 63.

    The establishment on this occasion of the Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide is discussed in Francis M. Deng, Chapter 4, Section 4.4 (above).

  64. 64.

    United Nations General Assembly Resolution 260 (III), Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , December 9, 1948.

  65. 65.

    Compare to, for e.g., Gregory Stanton, “The Eight Stages of Genocide,” first Working Paper (GS 01), Yale Program in Genocide Studies, 1998, http://www.genocidewatch.org/8stages1996.htm (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  66. 66.

    Helen Fein , Accounting for Genocide (New York : Free Press, 1979), 33.

  67. 67.

    Supreme Leader of Iran , Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , Radio Iran, July 20, 1994 (Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports [FBIS-DR]), quoted in Meir Litvak, “The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Holocaust : Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism ,” The Journal of Israeli History 25, no.1 (March 2006): 271.

  68. 68.

    The impacts of a rhetoric of dehumanization are analyzed in Douglas Greenberg, Chapter 5 (above) and Yehuda Bauer, Chapter 7, Section 7.2 (above).

  69. 69.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, February 20, 2008).

  70. 70.

    Supreme Leader of Iran , Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , quoted in “Iran leader urges destruction of ‘cancerous’ Israel ,” Reuters, December 15, 2000, http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/12/15/mideast.iran.reut/ (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  71. 71.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, October 26, 2005).

  72. 72.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speaking on the 60th anniversary of Israel ’s founding, May 8, 2008).

  73. 73.

    General Mohammad-Ali Jaafari, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, letter, February 18, 2008. See Dudi Cohen, “Iran : Cancerous Israel to be destroyed by Hizbullah,” Ynetnews, February 18, 2008, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3508176,00.html (Accessed June 1, 2009).

  74. 74.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ,(speech, August 1, 2006).

  75. 75.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, April 14, 2006). See “Iran : Israel Facing ‘Annihilation,’” Associated Press, April 14, 2006.

  76. 76.

    General Yahya Rahim Safavi , founder of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatolla Ali Khamenei , (remarks made at memorial service for Imad Mughniyeh, February 23, 2008). See Joshua Teitelbaum, What Iranian Leaders Really Say About Doing Away with Israel (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2008):14.

  77. 77.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, March 1, 2007).

  78. 78.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech), quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) in “Ahmadinejad: Israel is ‘flag of Satan,’ may face disintegration,” Reuters, August 18, 2007. Available at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/ 894744.html (Accessed June 1, 2009).

  79. 79.

    See, e.g., President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, August 1, 2006).

  80. 80.

    Ibid.

  81. 81.

    See Catherine MacKinnon, “International Decision: Prosecutor v. Nahimana, Barayagwiza, & Ngeze,” in American Journal of International Law 98, No.2 (April, 2004): 325, 330. See also Gregory S. Gordon , “‘A War of Media, Words, Newspapers and Radio Stations’: The ICTR Media Trial Verdict and a New Chapter in the International Law of Hate Speech,” in Virginia Journal of International Law 45 (2004): 186.

  82. 82.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech opening the “Support for the Palestinian Intifada” conference, April 14, 2006), quoted in “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his Own Words: 2007,” Anti-Defamation League, June 12, 2008, http://www.adl.org/main_International_Affairs/ahmadinejad_words.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_4 (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  83. 83.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (trasnscript of a speech broadcast on Jaam-e Jam 1 TV, 20 October 2006), http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1301.htm (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  84. 84.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , Khorasan Provincial TV, August 6, 2006, quoted in “In His Own Words,” Anti-Defamation League, August 6, 2006, http://www.adl.org/main_International_Affairs/ahmadinejad_words.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_5 (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  85. 85.

    Yahya Raheem, (speech before forces from the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij, Iran ), Fars (Iranian news agency), July 30, 2006, quoted in “Iran and Syria Beat the Drums of War,” Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch Series no. 1225, August 2, 2006. http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD122506 (Accessed June 1, 2009).

  86. 86.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech, August 1, 2006).

  87. 87.

    Ibid.

  88. 88.

    Patrick Bishop and Sebastian Berger, “‘Eliminate’ Israel to solve the crisis , says Iranian president,” Daily Telegraph, August 4, 2006.

  89. 89.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , “Ahmadinejad: Zionist regime to be dismantled soon,” Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), August 20, 2008, http://www1.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-24/0808203080171319.htm (June 4, 2009).

  90. 90.

    Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani , (speech on April 14, 2005. “Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani: ‘Fight the Jews and Vanquish Them so as to Hasten the Coming of the Hidden Imam,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series, no. 897, April 22, 2005). http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP89705 (Accessed June 1, 2009).

  91. 91.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech delivered at the United Nations General Assembly , September 25, 2008).

  92. 92.

    See, e.g., President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , “‘In Iran , freedom is absolute,’” interview, Los Angeles Times , September 23, 2008.

  93. 93.

    Nazila Fathi, “Wipe Israel ‘off the map’ Iranian says,” International Herald Tribune, October 27, 2005.

  94. 94.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech delivered in Gorgan, Northern Iran ), quoted on Press TV and Aftab, May 14, 2008. See Y. Mansharof and A. Savyon, “Ahmadinejad: Israel Is a ‘Dead Fish’ and a ‘Stinking Corpse’; ‘The Zionist Regime Will Be Wiped Off’; ‘The European Governments Do Not Want the Zionists Living in Europe ,’” Middle East Media Research Institute, Inquiry and Analysis Series no. 447, June 6, 2008, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iran&ID=IA44708 (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  95. 95.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech at the opening of a conference, April 14, 2006). See Iran : Israel Facing ‘Annihilation’,” Associated Press, April 14, 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/14/world/main1499824.shtml (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  96. 96.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech at the “World Mosque Week” conference, August 20, 2008). See “Ahmadinejad: Zionist regime to be dismantled soon,” Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), August 20, 2008.

  97. 97.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech at a military parade, April 17, 2008). See Alan Johnson, “Iran and Oran,” Progress Online, http://www.progressonline.org.uk/columns/column.asp?c=120 (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  98. 98.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech to foreign guests marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Homeini, June 3, 2007). See “Ahmadinejad says destruction of Israel is close,” Associated Press, June 3, 2007, http://chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-06/03/content_886021.htm (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  99. 99.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (speech broadcast on Jaam-e Jam 1 TV, October 20, 2006), http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1301.htm (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  100. 100.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (statement from July 23, 2006). See “Iran : Israel doomed to ‘destruction’,” Jerusalem Post, Associated Press, July 23, 2006, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291976348&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  101. 101.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , (statement from April 24, 2006). See Angus McDowall, “Iranian President insists ‘Israel cannot continue to live,’” The Independent, April 25, 2006, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iranian-president-insists-israel-cannot-continue-to-live-475496.html (Accessed June 4, 2009).

  102. 102.

    Kasra Naji, Ahmadinejad : The Secret History of Iran ’s Radical Leader (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2008), 144. This quote has also been translated as stating that “the perpetual subject of Iran is the elimination of Israel from the region:” See Teitelbaum, “Analysis,” 2008.

  103. 103.

    Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court , U.N. Doc. A/CONF.183/9, art. 13(b).

  104. 104.

    Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , 1948, arts. 3(c) and 9.

  105. 105.

    Petition, “The Responsibility to Prevent.”

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  1. Parliamentary Office, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6, Canada

    Irwin Cotler

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Correspondence to Irwin Cotler .

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  1. Fac. Law, Centre for Human Rights &, McGill University, Peel Street 3644, Montreal, H3A 1W9, Québec, Canada

    René Provost

  2. Fac. Law, Centre for Human Rights &, McGill University, Peel Street 3644, Montreal, H3A 1W9, Québec, Canada

    Payam Akhavan

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Cotler, I. (2011). Combating State-Sanctioned Incitement to Genocide: A Legal and Moral Imperative. In: Provost, R., Akhavan, P. (eds) Confronting Genocide. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9840-5_9

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