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Extra-judicial killings are the illegal killing of leading political, trades union, dissidents, and social figures by either the state government, state authorities like the armed forces and police (as in Liberia under Charles G. Taylor), or criminal outfits such as the Italian Mafia. Extrajudicial killings and death squads are most common in the Middle East (mostly in Palestinian territories and Iraq[1][2][3][4][5]) Central America[6][7][8], Afghanistan, Bangladesh[9], India and Indian-administrated Jammu and Kashmir[10][11][12][13][14][15], several nations or regions in Equatorial Africa[16][17][18], Jamaica[19][20], Kosovo[19][20] , many parts of South America[21][22][23], Chechnya[24], Russia[25], Uzbekistan, North Ossetia, parts of Thailand[26][27] and in the Philippines.[27][28][29][30][31][32]
[edit] Cold war usageThe former Soviet Union and Communist Bloc countries used to kill dissidents via extra-judicial killing during the Cold War. Those who were not killed were sent to 'Gulag' prison camps. Nguyễn Văn Lém (referred to as Captain Bay Lop) (died 1 February 1968 in Saigon ) was a member of the Viet Cong who was summarily executed in Saigon during the Tet Offensive. The picture of his death would became one of many anti- Vietnam War icons in the Western World.[33] During the 1960s and throughout the 1970s, death squads were used against the Viet Cong cadre as well as supporters in neighbouring countries (notably Cambodia). See also Phoenix Program (also known as Phung Hoang). The Viet Cong also used death squads of their own against civilians for political reasons. Argentina used extrajudicial killings as way of crushing the liberal and communist opposition to the military junta during the 'Dirty war'[34] of the late 1960s and most of the 1970s.Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, a far-right death squad mainly active during the "Dirty War". The Chilean Junta of 1972 to 1992 also committed such killings. See Operation Condor for examples. During the Salvadoran civil war, death squads achieved notoriety when far-right vigilantes assassinated Archbishop Óscar Romero for his social activism in March 1980 . In December 1980, three American nuns, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Maura Clarke, and a lay worker, Jean Donovan, were raped and murdered by a military unit later found to have been acting on specific orders. Death squads were instrumental in killing hundreds of peasants and activists, including such notable priests as Rutilio Grande. Because the death squads involved were found to have been soldiers of the Salvadoran military, which was receiving U.S. funding and training from American advisors during the Carter administration,[6] these events prompted outrage in the U.S. and led to a temporary cutoff in military aid from the Reagan administration[citation needed], although Death Squad activity stretched well into the Reagan years (1981-1989) as well. Honduras also had death squads active through the 1980s, the most notorious of which was Battalion 316. Hundreds of people, teachers, politicians, and union bosses were assassinated by government-backed forces. Battalion 316 received substantial support and training from the United States Central Intelligence Agency.[35] One of the earliest cases of extrajudical killings was in Weimar Germany.[36] [edit] IraqIraq has also suffered badly since the post-invasion insurgency of 2005.
The country has since become increasingly partitioned following the Iraq War into three zones: a Kurdish ethnic zone to the north, a Sunni center and the Shia ethnic zone to the south. The secular Arab socialist Baathist leadership were replaced with a provisional and later constitutional government that included leadership roles for the Shia and Kurdish peoples of the nation. This paralleled the development of ethnic militias by the Shia, Sunni, and the Kurdish (Peshmerga). There were death squads formed by members of every ethnicity.[38] In the national capital of Baghdad some members of the now-Shia police department and army (and militia members posing as members of police or armed forces) formed unofficial, unsanctioned, but long-tolerated death squads.[39] They possibly have links to the Interior Ministry and are popularly known as the 'black crows'. These groups operated night or day. They usually arrested people, then either tortured[40] or killed [41] them. The victims of these attacks were predominantly young males who had probably been suspected of being members of the Sunni insurgency. Agitators such as Abdul Razaq al-Na'as, Dr. Abdullateef al-Mayah, and Dr. Wissam Al-Hashimi have also been killed. These killings are not limited to only men; women and children have also been arrested and/or killed.[42] Some of these killings have also been simple robberies or other criminal activities. A feature in a May 2005 issue of the magazine of theNew York Times claimed that the U.S. military had modelled the "Wolf Brigade", the Iraqi interior ministry police commandos, on the death squads used in the 1980s to crush the left-wing insurgency in El Salvador.[43] Western news organizations such as Time and People disassembled this by focusing on the aspects such as probable militia membership, religious ethnicity, as well as uniforms worn by these squads rather than stating the United States-backed Iraqi government had death squads active in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.[44] [edit] IranDuring the 1950s a regime was put in power through the efforts of the CIA, in which the Shah (hereditary monarch) used SAVAK death squads to kill thousands. After the revolution death squads were used by the new regime. In 1983 the CIA gave one of the leaders of Iran Khomeni information on KGB agents in Iran. This information was probably used.The Iranian regime later used death squads occasionally throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s however by the 2000s it has appeared to almost entirely if not all cease their operation. This partial Westernization of the country can be seen paralleling similar events in Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, and Northern Iraq beginning in the late 1990s See also: Chain Murders of Iran [edit] Philippines
The New People's Army (NPA) groups known as "Sparrow Units" were active in the mid-1980s, killing government officials, police personnel, military members, and anyone else they targeted for elimination. They were also supposedly part of an NPA operation called "Agaw Armas" (Filipino for "Stealing Weapons - "), where they raided government armories as well as stealing weapons from slain military and police personnel. A low level civil war with south Moslems, Al-Qaeda sympathizers and communist insurgents has led to a general break down of law and order. The Philippines government has promised to curb the killings, but is itself implicated in many of the killings.[28] [edit] Extrajudicial Killings Summit
[edit] United Kingdom (UK)During the Irish war of independence in 1916-21, the British forces organised several secret assassination squads. In 1920 alone the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force murdered the mayors of Limerick and Cork cities. In Limerick, the replacement mayor was also murdered, while in Cork, the new mayor died after a 74 day hunger strike.[citation needed] [edit] Northern IrelandMain article: Shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland, various paramilitary groups and members of the British armed forces and the Royal Ulster Constabulary killed without lawful excuse during The Troubles.[48][49] During the 30 years of the The Troubles in Northern Ireland, both nationalist and loyalist paramilitary forces organised assassination squads. Notable cases include Brian Nelson, an Ulster Defence Association member and British Army agent convicted of sectarian murders.[50][51][52] [edit] United States of AmericaFred Hampton, an African-American activist, was killed in his sleep by a tactical unit of the Cook County, Illinois State's Attorney's Office (SAO), in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). [53][54][55] [edit] ThailandReportedly thousands of extrajudicial killings occurred during the 2003 anti-drug effort of Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Rumors still persist that there is collusion between the government, rogue military officers and radical right wing/ anti-drugs death squads. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Both Muslim [10] and Buddhist [11] sectarian death squads still operating in the south of the country. [edit] Human rights groupsMany human rights organisations like Amnesty International along with the UN are campaigning against extrajudicial punishment .[7][56][57][58][59] [edit] In popular cultureThe subject of extrajudicial punishment was examined in the stage play and subsequent film A Few Good Men. In this film, two marines are put on trial for the death of another marine due to their administering of a Code Red (a military colloquial speech term for extrajudicial punishment) on him. [edit] See also
[edit] References
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