Amnesty criticises US for ‘unlawful’ OBL raid

Amnesty also hit out at human rights violations committed by former president George W Bush's administration.

WASHINGTON:

Amnesty International has criticised the US for its use of lethal force, particularly for the “unlawful” killing of Osama bin Laden in a clandestine US commando raid in Abbottabad last May.

“The US administration made clear that the operation had been conducted under the US’ theory of a global armed conflict between the US and al Qaeda in which the US does not recognise the applicability of international human rights law,” it said in its annual report.

“In the absence of further clarification from the US authorities, the killing of Bin Laden would appear to have been unlawful,” it said. Amnesty said a request for clarification over an apparent US drone strike in Yemen last September that killed US-born radical cleric Anwar al Awlaqi, his al Qaeda co-conspirator Samir Khan and at least two others had also gone unanswered. “These killings appeared to have amounted to extrajudicial executions,” the rights watchdog said. Amnesty also hit out at human rights violations committed by former US president George W Bush’s administration and condemned the “impunity” with which his officials operated.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2012.