UN court orders US to ease Iran sanctions
The Hague, Oct 3 : The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday ordered the US to lift sanctions linked to humanitarian trade, food, medicine and civil aviation imposed against Iran -- a move welcomed by Tehran.
Washington re-imposed sanctions on Iran after pulling out from the 2015 nuclear deal. Siding with Tehran, the ICJ said exports of "humanitarian" goods, such as food and medicines, should be allowed, the BBC reported.
US President Donald Trump moved to restore tough sanctions on Iran in May after announcing he was abandoning Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
He said the deal had "failed to achieve the fundamental objective of blocking all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb" and did not deal with Tehran's "malign activities, including its ballistic missile programme and its support for terrorism".
Iran challenged the sanctions in a case filed in July at the court. It said that the sanctions violated the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights between the two countries, which grants the ICJ jurisdiction over disputes.
The deal was originally signed between Iran and China, France, Russia, the UK, the US plus Germany and the European Union, which aimed to halt the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons programme in exchange for lifting of economic sanctions.
Announcing the decision on Wednesday, the ICJ's President Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf said: "The court considers that the US must remove, by means of its choosing, any impediment (...) to the free exportation to the territory of Iran of goods required for humanitarian needs."
Washington was ordered to remove sanctions that would affect Iran's civilian population, namely the ones restricting medicine and medical devices, food products and spare mechanical parts vital for infrastructure, such as spare parts for aviation maintenance.
However, the US argued that the court had no jurisdiction in the case as it concerned its national security.
Reacting to the top UN court's decision, Iranian Foreign Ministry said: "The verdict by the Hague-based ICJ against the US unilateral sanctions, following its withdrawal from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, proves Iran's righteousness and US' illegitimate and oppressive sanctions."
The rulings of the ICJ, the main judicial organ of the UN, are binding but the court has no power to enforce them. It settles legal disputes between member states. But both Washington and Tehran have in the past ignored the court's rulings.
Following the announcement, US Ambassador to the Netherlands, Pete Hoekstra, called it a meritless case over which the court has no jurisdiction".
Iran's economy has slumped since Trump ordered that sanctions be reinstated. Its currency, the rial, has dropped sharply.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran's adherence to the nuclear pact, had found that Tehran fully complied with the agreement.
The court's decision could encourage European companies, which ceased trading with Iran for fear of falling foul of Trump, to reconsider their position, specifically those dealing in the humanitarian items outlined by the judges, the report said.
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
