On Tuesday, the United Nations (UN) expert on extrajudicial killings stated in a report that the United States (US) drone strike that killed Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was “unlawful”.
The Iranian generals’ killing was ordered by the US President Donald Trump on January 3 via a drone strike near Baghdad international airport.
The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, Agnes Callamard, in her report on arbitrary executions stated that “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.”
Callamard’s reported concluded with the killing being called an “arbitrary killing” which violated the UN charter.
After the killing of Qassem Soleimani, Trump had said Soleimani was “the world’s top terrorist” and “should have been terminated long ago”.
The US had accused Qassem Soleimani of planning attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on US forces in the region.
Callamard said that the US had provided no evidence of Qassem Soleimani masterminding “an imminent attack” against American interests.
The report called the drone strike being the first known attack in which a nation stated self-defence as a justification for an attack against a state actor on a third country’s territory.
Callamard’s detailed report on targeted killings through armed drones will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva on Thursday.