New York, America – The US drone strike that killed Iran’s top General, Qassem Soleimani was unlawful, declared the United Nations (UN) expert on extrajudicial killing.
The attack, on January 3 was ordered by the President of America, Donald Trump and took place near Baghdad International Airport, which also killed the Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Trump seemingly justified his orders by saying that Soleimani was “the world’s top terrorist and should have been terminated long ago”
“In light of the evidence that the US has provided to date, the targeting of General Soleimani, and the deaths of those accompanying him, constitute an arbitrary killing for which, under IHRL [international human rights law] the US is responsible,” said Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, in her report published on Tuesday.
She also revealed that the United States had provided no evidence of “an imminent attack” against American interests being planned. However, America had accused Soleimani of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on US forces in the region.
This drone strike was the first known incident in which a nation invoked self-defence as a justification for an attack against a state actor in the territory of a third country, she said.
“Major General Soleimani was in charge of Iran military strategy and actions in Syria and Iraq. But absent an actual imminent threat to life, the course of action taken by the US was unlawful,” Callamard wrote.
This comes as Iraq has an arrest warrant issued for Donal Trump, and also asked Interpol to help execute it.
