UNITED NATIONS, New York Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian, Sunday signed the Charter of the International Criminal Court (ICC), thus bringing the total number of signatures to 139 countries, including those of 29 OIC members.

The 128-Article charter was first compiled in the course of a diplomatic conference in Rome in the months of June and July, 1998.

It established the first international tribunal to bring to justice those accused of the worst crimes of humanity.

Signing of the charter does not mean the Islamic Republic of Iran is a member of the treaty that officially binds signatories as the same should still be ratified by the Islamic Consultative Assembly as in all other international documents.

Speaking to IRNA here following the signing of the charter, Nejad-Hosseinian said the ICC will officially come into being after its governing statute is ratified by 60 world countries, adding that so far 25 parliaments have approved the document.

He said the court, based in The Hague, is the most important world body after the United Nations which was founded in 1945, and is expected to start work within the next two years.

The court will have the competence to try individuals accused of mass murder, war crimes and other gross human violations, he said.

Nejad-Hosseinian further remarked that the court will have 18 judges elected by the assembly of states that are signatories of the charter and on the basis of proportional geographical representation.

He said once the court starts to try cases there would be no more need for referring cases to especially constituted tribunals such as the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or the Rwanda War crimes tribunal, both established by the United Nations security council.

(IRNA)