UN: Trump pardon of Blackwater contractors in Iraq violates international law
A number of the UN human rights experts have condemned US President Donald Trump’s pardoning of four American security contractors convicted of killing Iraqi civilians in 2007.
“These pardons violate US obligations under international law and more broadly undermine humanitarian law and human rights at a global level,” the members of Working Group on the use of mercenaries said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Working Group, comprised of Lilian Bobea, Chris Kwaja, Ravindran Daniel and Sorcha MacLeod, also expressed concern about such pardons in the future, called them as “open doors to future abuses.”
They also asked the members of the Geneva Conventions to condemn the pardons, reiterating that the Geneva Conventions “oblige States to hold war criminals accountable” even when acting “as private security contractors.”
In 2015, a US court found Nicholas Slatten guilty of first-degree murder, while Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter.
These four contractors, who worked for the private security firm Blackwater guards, opened fire in a busy square in Baghdad in 2007 and killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians. The incident prompted outcry from human rights organizations and sparked a public debate about the military's use of private contractors in conflict zones.
Last week, Trump issued a flurry of pardons and commutations to a slew of controversial figures with ties to his administration, including the four Blackwater contractors.
The pardons triggered a wave of criticism inside the US with General David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, respectively commander of US forces and US ambassador in Iraq at the time of the incident, calling them “an action that tells the world that Americans abroad can commit the most heinous crimes with impunity.”
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