Tag

#extrajudicial-killing

Killings carried out by state agents or with state complicity outside any legal framework, without due process or judicial authorization. Prohibited under the ICCPR and constituting a serious human rights violation.

3 incidents

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Assassination of Qasem Soleimani: Extrajudicial Killing Without Congressional Authorization

Trump ordered the killing of Iran's most senior military commander without consulting Congress and without a clear and credible imminent threat justification. The strike killed Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Iran retaliated with ballistic missiles against U.S. forces in Iraq. The administration offered contradictory and later-disputed justifications for the 'imminence' of the claimed threat.

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Khashoggi Assassination Cover-Up: Trump's Protection of Saudi Arabia from Accountability

Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a 15-person hit squad sent from Riyadh. The CIA concluded with high confidence that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally ordered the killing. Trump publicly sided with Saudi Arabia over his own intelligence agencies, blocked sanctions on MBS, and used the murder as leverage in arms sales negotiations.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Yakla Raid: Trump's First Military Operation Kills Civilians and a U.S. Navy SEAL

The Yakla raid was authorized by Trump without the standard national security review process. The operation went wrong from the start: intelligence may have been compromised, the element of surprise was lost, and the ensuing firefight resulted in the deaths of a U.S. service member, three wounded Americans, and between 10 and 30 Yemeni civilians by different counts, including children. Among the civilians killed was 8-year-old Nawar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen — the daughter of cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who had been killed in a 2011 Obama-era drone strike.