Saeed Bagheri

University of Reading · School of Law

This article analyzes whether and to what extent energy resources fulfil the definition of military objective within the meaning of international humanitarian law (IHL) and customary IHL. In order to bring conceptual clarity to the duty to protect the natural environment in armed conflict, the article explores the legal limits to the destruction of...

In March 2024, Forensic Architecture reported that more than 2,000 agricultural sites, including farms and greenhouses, have been destroyed in Gaza since October 2023. Almost six months into Israel’s war on Gaza, evidence indicates the devastating impacts of the war on the natural environment in Gaza. In particular, it has been reported that farms...

While the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) keeps targeting the positions of Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip, concerns about the environmental impacts of the IDF’s air strikes are becoming prominent. This, however, is very much overshadowed by discussions on relatively different aspects of the war, especially the indiscriminate attacks on civilians a...

After three decades of being occupied by Armenia, the territories in and around Nagorno-Karabakh (NK), which make up more than 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s territory were recaptured by Azerbaijan by 1 December 2020. At the end of the second war over NK, which erupted on 27 September 2020, a ceasefire agreement, brokered by Russia after a successful...

This post builds on the question of whether Common Article 1 obligations extend to situations of NIACs. It then goes on to examine a further important legal question as to whether territorial States must engage with organised groups for the purpose of the obligations contained in Common Article 1. Finally, it analyses the difficulties that would be...

Military assistance to a state subjected to an armed attack and seeking the assistance of other states in self-defence is a well-accepted concept in international law. However, once the assisting state facilitates the preparation or commission of any acts violating the law of armed conflict (jus in bello), the question immediately arises of whether...

The use of force in foreign territories has been contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, with the authorisation of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, in ‘cases deemed legitimate by international law’ and where required by international treaties to which Turkey is a party. Yet Turkey's extraterritorial use of force against armed...

Iranian women are joined in their anger by many thousands of men, who want to force change to ensure the rights of all Iranians are respected – regardless of gender, religion or ethnicity.

During the war with Islamic State in northern Iraq (2014–17), a notable number of Kurdish women joined the Peshmerga (Iraqi-Kurdish fighters), the military forces of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in an effort to prevent Islamic State’s advance into the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Besides causing international resonance, the presence of women f...

The detention of children of Islamic State within Kurdish-controlled camps in Syria presents a complex dilemma for national authorities and the international community. Although a small number of states have repatriated their nationals, overall, little progress has been made and thousands of children continue to languish in deplorable conditions. R...

Russian military forces have intensified attacks on several fronts in Ukraine since 24 February 2022. Regardless of the Russian government’s justifications in using force against Ukraine, there is an international armed conflict ongoing between Ukraine and Russia, which requires both parties to respect international humanitarian law (IHL). On 2 Ma...

Armed non-state actors (ANSAs) often have economic aims that international law needs to respond to. This book looks at the aim of Islamic State to create an effective government, with an economically independent regime, which focused on key oilfields in Syria and Iraq. Having addressed Islamic State's quest for energy resources in Iraq and Syria, t...

As a result of the constitutional referendum held on 20 February 2017 in the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, both the name and administration of the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh changed. According to the new Constitution, adopted with an 87 per cent majority, Nagorno-Karabakh’s name is now the Republic of Artsakh, its Armenian name...

The Islamic Republic of Iran is host to approximately three million Afghan refugees who fled their homes after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1989. In order to avoid returning home, the Afghan refugee children, who have lived in tough conditions and have been deprived of their basic human rights, including the right to education and safe lea...

In 2015, Iran agreed a long-term Nuclear Deal on its nuclear programme with the world powers known as the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany. The deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) endorsed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2231, laid the groundwork for the Council to lift...

The changing of place names (toponyms) that have indigenous origins, is inextricably linked to a variety of political and cultural factors in some countries. The Iranian regime’s long-term efforts in shaping a national identity are the prominent motivation behind the name changes in the non-Persian region of Azerbaijan in north-western Iran, which...

As a matter of human rights, everybody has a right to education in their mother language as the basis for sustained success; however, the Iranian minorities, particularly the Turkic minorities (the largest ethnic minority group of about 30 million in Iran), have been denied the right to education in their mother language over the past 90 years. Hav...

Despite the multiplicity of legal sources and instruments, the international community has not been successful in the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage materials during violent conflicts due to the absence of an overarching applicable regime. By using the timely cases from Syria, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Afghanistan, Marina Lostal has i...

Following the US-imposed oil embargo and a web of hard-hitting economic sanctions, Iran’s economy and the lives of Iranian civilians have been hit hard a year after the US withdrawal from the 2015 Nuclear Deal (JCPOA). In May 2018, Donald Trump formally pulled the US out of the Nuclear Deal in order to reimpose the sanction against Iran as a coerci...

While nearly three weeks have passed since local elections were held in Turkey on 31st March 2019, the Turkish Supreme Electoral Council has not issued any statement on the election results in two major cities of the country – Istanbul, and the Turkish capital, Ankara. According to Article 79 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey (1982), el...

Human Rights Review, Vol. 20(2), 2019

During the war with Islamic State in northern Iraq (2014-17), a notable number of the Kurdish women joined the Peshmerga (Iraqi-Kurdish fighters), the military forces of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in an effort to prevent Islamic State advance into the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. Beside causing ample international resonance,...

International Journal on World Peace, Vo. 36(1), 2019

The sixth and largest nuclear test conducted by North Korea on September 3, 2017 raised more questions about the success of the current non-proliferation regime. Despite the legal force of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a large number of nuclear tests have been conducted around the world. These reflect unequal provisions between the five nucle...

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the basis for international cooperation on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, however, the inefficiency of the Treaty has been discussed since it entered into force in 1970. Although the NPT has been the key preventive barrier to nuclear proliferation, it “enshrined formal tolerance of the continued posses...

The pathways which serve the natural resource-based conflict resolution and achieve peace-building in Post-Islamic State Iraq

It’s 40 years this month since the Islamic revolution began in Iran. The regime is still in place, despite strong protests in 2009 and again in the New Year. What does it mean for the Iranian people and their human rights?

During the last four decades of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s rule, the country witnessed the periodic and scattered uprisings against the regime. By the recently widespread uprisings and anti-government protests of the Iranian people which are called as “the (Iranian year of) 1396 (2018) sedition” the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, once aga...

The conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a Kurdish insurgent movement is a four-decade-long (from the 1980s) guerrilla war in the southeast region of the country. Turkish President R.T. Erdogan, in a reaction to an attack in the centre of Ankara which killed at least 28 people and left another 61 injured on 17 February...

On 15 September the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (KRG) held an independence referendum, in which a majority of the non-Kurdish people of the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk did not participate. Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of Kirkuk after the Iraqi army abandoned its posts in a rapid collapse before the Islamic State’s offensive nearby in 2014....

On 15 September 2017, the Iraqi Kurdish parliament voted to hold an independence referendum in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, and today, that referendum is taking place. Western and regional powers ― including Baghdad, Turkey, Iran, United States and the EU― have expressed their opposition to the referendum because they believe that the refere...

Moderate President Rouhani was re-elected President of Iran on 19 May 2017. In spite of his biggest achievement during his first term presidency —the Nuclear Deal reached on 14 July 2015 between Iran, the P5+1 and the EU in Vienna—democracy and human rights have not flourished under his rule. However, by signing the “Charter on Citizens’ Rights” on...

Little over a week after the inauguration of Donald Trump, the new President of the United State (US), the US officials increased international tensions over Iran’s ballistic missile test on January 29, 2017. Shortly after, the UN Security Council scheduled urgent consultations on 31st of January over Iran’s failed ballistic missile test at the req...

The constitutional referendum was held on 16 April in Turkey. In this referendum, the majority of Turkish people said “yes” to the constitutional amendments through which the Turkish governmental system should be changed to a presidential system. Traditionally, it has been accepted that the legitimacy of a referendum is based on direct participatio...

After a failed military coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016, the Turkish government decided to declare a state of emergency to take required measures in the fight against the putschists, and return to normalcy as soon as possible. Considering the extension of the state of emergency to six months, and all measures taken in this period, this post brings...

À 48 heures d’un référendum autant historique pour les institutions turques qu’à haut risque pour le régime de Recep TAYYIP ERDOGAN, le Blog de l’ISJPS a eu l’opportunité d’interroger M. Saeed BAGHERI, assistant-professeur à l’Université d'Akdeniz et docteur en droit international public. Pour le Blog, il nous présente la situation juridique en Tur...

Five days after the coup failed on 15 July 2016 in Turkey, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency from 21 July 2016 for a period of ninety days, pursuant to Article 120 of the Turkish Constitution of 1982. On 19 October 2016, Turkey’s parliament ratified a planned extension of the state of emergency for three more months to crack down...

Non-state armed groups are the main threats to states’ national security in the 21st century, to defend against which, states require useful methods. Recently, use of children by these groups, especially in the Middle East, has turned into one of the most important discussable issues that need to be evaluated in the context of the law of armed conf...

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is an international treaty that should be implemented during both peace and wartime. However, the obligations included in the treaty are dependent upon states' attitudes regarding other issues. Non-use of nuclear weapons is directly related to negotiations done for the purpose of non-proliferation of nuclear weapo...

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is an international treaty that should be implemented during both peace and wartime. However, the obligations included in the treaty are dependent upon states’ attitudes regarding other issues. Non-use of nuclear weapons is directly related to negotiations done for the purpose of non-proliferation of nuclear weapo...

When the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968 entered into force in 1970, compliant states, which do not possess nuclear weapons, were given certain obligations. According to the treaty, these parties have accepted to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to undertake inspections in order to avoid the shift from nuclear...

Use of force is one of the principles of international law that has been banned by the UN Charter and modern constitutions. However, since the enforcement of the UN Charter, self-defense has become the preferred excuse for states to justify their use of force. Applying self-defense, however, requires some conditions. Immediacy is one of the importa...

This article aims to discuss the peaceful use of nuclear energy as one of the featured subjects of international law. The main purpose of this article is an analysis of the legal framework of peaceful use of nuclear energy by states. In this respect, initially peaceful use of nuclear energy in the context of Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) will be di...

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a part of the Law of Peace and the Law of War. However, the obligations included in the treaty are dependent upon states’ attitudes regarding other issues. Non-use of nuclear weapons is directly related to negotiations done for the purpose of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, non-production or accumulation...

This study clarifies the legal regime applicable to the Strait of Hormuz, with particular attention to the security practices of Iran as a coastal State in the Persian Gulf. In this context, the most important regulations concerning the law of the sea, including both national and international regulations, conventions and maritime agreements, will...

Çağımızda iade veya geri verme işleminde insan hakları önemli birkonuma sahiptir. Bugün kişi, adil olmayan yargılama, ölüm cezası, işkenceya da insanlık dışı ve küçültücü muamele ya da cezaya maruz kalma riskiolan bir ülkeye gönderilemez. Ancak, kendisinden kişinin gönderilmesi talepedilen bir devlet, belirli hususlarda yeterli teminat alması halin...

Bu çalışmada 1992'de İran ve ABD tarafından Birleşmiş Milletler (BM)'in başlıca yargı organı olan Uluslararası Adalet Divanı'na sunulan Petrol Platformları Davası incelenmiştir. Tarafl ar, Divan'ın zorunlu yargı yetkisini yürürlükte olan, uyuşmazlıkların zorunlu çözümünü düzenleyen Dostluk Antlaşması (1955) ile kabul etmişlerdir. Divan, tarafl arın...

Iran is located on the shores of the Persian Gulf and this issue has made the strategic position of Iran important. But despite being a coastal state, Iran is not a party of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. This is an important and critical issue on the agenda of Iran as one of the discussion topics constitutes.