UN human rights watchdogs demand details of Osama`s killing

Two UN human rights watchdogs have asked the US to give details about the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

Geneva: Two UN human rights watchdogs have
asked the US to give details about the operation that killed
Osama bin Laden, who was unarmed, in particular whether there
had been any plan to capture him.

There are growing speculations that international human
right principles might have been jettisoned in the deadly
operation after reports emerged that four of the five people
killed, when an elite unit of US Navy SEALs raided the house
in Pakistan`s Abbottabad, were unarmed - bin Laden among them.

The US should "disclose the supporting facts to allow an
assessment in terms of international human rights law
standards," UN`s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary
or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and the special
rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and
fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin
Scheinin, said in a statement.

"For instance it will be particularly important to know
if the planning of the mission allowed an effort to capture
bin Laden."

While "deadly force" is allowed in exceptional cases,
"the norm should be that terrorists should be dealt with as
criminals, through legal process of arrest, trial, and
judicially decided punishment," the two independent
investigators argued.

Against this backdrop, they said, the US must be ready to
answer all the questions about its operation.
"It is important to get this into the open."

The US changed its position on how the operation was
carried in a matter of two days, said analysts.

First, US President Barak Obama and Pentagon spoke about
"fire fighting" as well as resistance from inside the
compound, but later, it was revealed that American forces only
came under fire in the first few minutes of the operation.

The UN Human Rights Commissioner Navanethem Pillay has
also asked the US must provide all the information concerning
the killing of bin Laden but so far there is no response, a
commission official said.

PTI

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