Assassination ‘Another Nail in Coffin of Int’l Law’

 Top UN Human Rights Investigator Callamard

TEHRAN (kayhan Intl.) -- A top UN human rights investigator has termed U.S. assassination of General Qassem Soleimani as "unlawful”, pointing out that the attack was a "nail in the coffin of international law”.
Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, wrote in a series of tweets that while the reckless attack did not lead to an international war, many paid the highest price and many continue to risk the same in the aftermath.
"So yes, there was no international war. But many paid the highest price, and many more continue, in the name of justice, to risk the same. And didn’t the US attack and its aftermath hammer yet another nail in the coffin of international law and international rule?” she wrote.
Iran retaliated five days after the assassination by firing dozens of missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq, declaring that it was part of its pledged "tough revenge” and that the full revenge would be the ultimate expulsion of all American forces from the region.
"One year ago, the U.S. targeted killing of Iran’s General Soleimani in Iraq became the first known incident outside the context of a declared conflict in which a State invoked self-defense as justification for an attack against a State-actor,” Callamard wrote.
She said the assassination of Gen. Soleimani, as a state official, failed to meet the standards of "necessity” and "proportionality”.
"It was unlawful under human rights law. What does its precedent mean?
Callamard argued that the act set a dangerous precedent based on which countries may opt to strategically eliminate high-ranking officials of their

rivals outside the context of a known war, after classifying them as a "terrorist” who posed an undefined, future threat.
"And it means we also face the possibility that ALL soldiers, anywhere in the world at any time, may be deemed a legitimate target,” she added. Elsewhere in her remarks, the UN rapporteur said, "Further, by killing General Soleimani on Iraqi soil without first obtaining Iraq’s consent, the U.S. violated the territorial integrity of Iraq.”
"Where is the global leadership mediating for its resolution? Demanding accountability for its prosecution? How are we to mend the law and standards there to protect us all, but damaged perhaps beyond repair? Where are the institutions ready and able to intervene, to act, to mend?” she added.
Callamard has on numerous occasions spoken out against the assassination, and criticizing the UN Security Council for its inaction and the international community for remaining silent about the issue.
She has also criticized the U.S. for failing to provide sufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent posed by General Soleimani against its interests to justify the drone attack, urging the international community to break its silence on Washington’s drone-powered unlawful killings.