{"id":770568,"date":"2022-08-06T15:08:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T15:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=5188ec10582cde2a53dacf37fdaeddbd"},"modified":"2022-08-06T15:08:59","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T15:08:59","slug":"bidens-assassination-of-al-qaeda-leader-ayman-al-zawahiri-was-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/08\/06\/bidens-assassination-of-al-qaeda-leader-ayman-al-zawahiri-was-illegal\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s Assassination of al-Qaeda Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri Was Illegal"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Joe Biden\u2019s assassination of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan was illegal under both U.S. and international law. After the CIA drone strike killed Zawahiri on August 2, Biden declared<\/a>, \u201cPeople around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer.\u201d What we should fear instead is the dangerous precedent set by Biden\u2019s unlawful extrajudicial execution.<\/p>\n

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In addition to being illegal, the killing of Zawahiri also occurred in a moment when the United Nations had already determined that people in the U.S. had little to fear from him. As a United Nations report released in July<\/a> concluded, \u201cAl Qaeda is not viewed as posing an immediate international threat from its safe haven in Afghanistan because it lacks an external operational capability and does not currently wish to cause the Taliban international difficulty or embarrassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Just as former president Barack Obama stated that \u201cJustice has been done<\/a>\u201d after he assassinated Osama bin Laden, Biden said, \u201cNow justice has been delivered<\/a>\u201d when he announced the assassination of Zawahiri.<\/p>\n

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Retaliation, however, does not constitute justice.<\/p>\n

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Targeted, or political, assassinations are extrajudicial executions. They are deliberate and unlawful killings meted out by order of, or with acquiescence of, a government. Extrajudicial executions are implemented outside a judicial framework.<\/p>\n

The fact that Zawahiri did not pose an imminent threat is precisely why his assassination was illegal.<\/p>\n

Zawahiri\u2019s Assassination Violated International Law<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Extrajudicial executions are prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the United States has ratified, making it part of U.S. law under the Constitution\u2019s supremacy clause. Article 6 of the ICCPR<\/a> states, \u201cEvery human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.\u201d In its interpretation of Article 6, The UN Human Rights Committee opined<\/a> that all human beings are entitled to the protection of the right to life \u201cwithout distinction of any kind, including for persons suspected or convicted of even the most serious crimes.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\u201cOutside the context of active hostilities, the use of drones or other means for targeted killing is almost never likely to be legal,\u201d tweeted<\/a> Agn\u00e8s Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. \u201cIntentionally lethal or potentially lethal force can only be used where strictly necessary to protect against an imminent threat to life.\u201d In order to be lawful, the United States would need to demonstrate that the target \u201cconstituted an imminent threat to others,\u201d Callamard said.<\/p>\n