Terrorism is one of those new words whose interpretation originates from the political and cultural identity of the cause and effect, and consequently, its definition depends on the mental rules considered by the interpreter. The current definitions of the above word literally can be interpreted based on two aspects, formal and esoteric: the formal aspect, which is based solely on the literal meaning of this word, that is, intimidation, harm to another, and generally, an apparent emphasis on the negative aspect of this action; and the esoteric aspect, which will be determined based on the nature of the victim and the perpetrator, whether this act can be defined and condemned under the title of terrorism and its formal aspect. In the meantime, the reactions of Western governments to terrorist acts all over the world, the acts that have resulted in material and spiritual harm to people, over many years, show that the esoteric aspect has always been at the top of the logic pyramid of the Western authorities. This is even though the nature of terrorist acts, regardless of location, is a clear violation of human rights and its most significant natural principle, which is the right to life and individual security; this fact is intelligibly mentioned in prominent documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its covenants, the European Convention on Human Rights and many other documents.
For example, Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” [1]; and, according to paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, “Every human being has the inherent right to life” [2]; additionally, Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights explicitly mentions the right to life of all human beings [3]; the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 [4], the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism [5], and the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism [6], have also emphasized the need to fight against the sinister phenomenon of terrorism, regardless of its kind, perpetrators and victims.
In this regard, the series of terrorist incidents in Shah Cheragh, despite the clear violation of the above documents, resulted in only a mild reaction from Western governments and even international organizations. So that after the last terrorist operation in August 2023, Amir Saeid Iravani, the permanent representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, by sending a letter addressed to the Secretary General of this organization, Antonio Guterres, criticized the dual behavior of the Security Council towards terrorist acts and in a way, he forced the said organ to react to these terrorist actions after these statements. Moreover, following the first terrorist attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in October 2022, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in a letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, strongly criticized the non-reaction of some permanent members of the Security Council to this terrorist act and, in fact, the action of this group of countries in dividing terrorists into good and bad.
Furthermore, a comparison of the reactions of leading Western media regarding this incident with similar terrorist incidents in Europe and its allies indicates that the cultural mentality of the West, despite its seemingly attractive humanistic slogans, is still trapped in the concept of “self and other” caused by the Westphalian Club and European concert. Thus the approach of the above media towards terrorist acts often tends to create “reportage” and not “report” and accordingly, the direction of the audience is done in line with the wishes of a few and possibly related to the circles of power. Distinguishing (both in the governance and media aspect) between ISIS, which slaughters Western victims, burns a Jordanian pilot, and carries out a terrorist bombing in Brussels, and ISIS, which is behind the terrorist attacks on Shah Cheragh, the Iranian Parliament, and the martyrdom of a large number of Iranian fighters present at the scene of the battle with this terrorist group, nothing but “double standard”. Anyway, the most basic possible expectation from these countries is that they at least adhere to their own human rights regulations and do not take their actions based on the compilation of a separate regulation in their minds. For the reason that terrorism is a reprehensible thing, whether it is in Iran or outside it, and its development in any form will eventually result in harm to humankind, regardless of its color and face.
References
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- European Convention on Human Rights
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373
- Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism
- Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism