SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS EXPRESSES CONCERN AT ASSASSINATION OF ABDEL AZIZ AL-RANTISI

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS EXPRESSES

CONCERN AT ASSASSINATION OF ABDEL AZIZ AL-RANTISI

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 20 April (UN Information Service) –- The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir, issued the following statement today:

“The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions is seriously concerned at the extrajudicial execution of the head of the Hamas militant Islamic movement in Gaza, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, which also resulted in the deaths of two other civilians and the injury of several passers-by on 17 April 2004.

“Only 26 days after Sheik Ahmed Yassin was killed by the Israeli military, the Special Rapporteur reiterates her conviction that aerial bombings or “targeted assassinations” against civilian populations will only lead to escalating violence and calls on the Israeli forces to immediately end this unacceptable practice so as to comply with international human rights standards.”

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