Ask Amnesty

From Sorin, Merion Station, PA:

Today, 4/29/03 I read on several on-line papers including the BBC and the LA times that US troops fired on civilian protesters in a city near Baghdad killing 13 and injuring over 75. The BBC also mentioned that there were 3 such incidents already including a shooting on civilians in Musul. Each time the army claims that they were fired on from the crowd but Iraqi eywitnesses deny it. My questions are: 1. Is there any independent inquiry into these incidents by Amnesty International or other organizations? 2. Assuming the army report is correct, is it an internationally recognized justification to open fire on a crowd of civilians? 3. Assuming no evidence to substantiate the army claim is found, can the persons giving the command to shoot be brought before an international tribunal?

International USA's Refugee Program Director Bill Frelick responds. Bill Frelick served as a delegate on an Amnesty International mission to Iraq in late April/early May 2003. In addition to visiting the POW/civilian internee camp at Umm Qasr and searching for hidden detention centers, Frelick assessed humanitarian conditions and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

I was in Iraq at the time of that shooting incident as part of the Amnesty International research mission, but not actually in Falluja where the incident occurred. On April 30, AI called upon the US authorities to establish a thorough, independent, and public investigation into the killings (See: Death of Civilian Demonstrators Must Be Investigated).

As to your question about international standards regarding shooting into crowds, the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials set out stringent conditions requiring that firearms should be used only as a last resort, and, according to Principle 4, used "only if other means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the desired result." Principle 9 states that Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defense or defense of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.

More information:

• Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials