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The legal gray zone of drone attacks
A US drone attack claimed its first German victim, a suspected Muslim fundamentalist, in 2010. A German federal investigation into the incident has reignited debate about the use of unmanned aircraft.
Shortly before his death, a man named in reports as Bünyamin E. travelled to the Pakistani region of North Waziristan, an Islamist stronghold. On October 4, 2010, a missile strike by a US drone struck the suspected radical Islamist along with a number of companions.
Bünyamin E. was the first German to die in a US drone attack, which the country has used extensively in its war on terror. Such attacks typically involve the use of unmanned planes steered and controlled from bases in the US. Estimates by the independent US-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism say that more than 3,000 people lost their lives to US drone attacks in Pakistan between 2004 and 2012. The Bureau also estimates that over 800 of them were civilians.
Punishment with no trial?
Federal German legal authorities are now investigating the controversial tactic after a nearly two-year long process of determining whether such an investigation is within the scope of their office. The US is operating in a legal gray zone and may have violated international law. Jochen Hippler of the Duisburg Institute for Development and Peace sees the drone attacks in Pakistan as especially problematic since they go against the will of the Pakistani government - at least officially.
Shortly before his death, a man named in reports as Bünyamin E. travelled to the Pakistani region of North Waziristan, an Islamist stronghold. On October 4, 2010, a missile strike by a US drone struck the suspected radical Islamist along with a number of companions.
Bünyamin E. was the first German to die in a US drone attack, which the country has used extensively in its war on terror. Such attacks typically involve the use of unmanned planes steered and controlled from bases in the US. Estimates by the independent US-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism say that more than 3,000 people lost their lives to US drone attacks in Pakistan between 2004 and 2012. The Bureau also estimates that over 800 of them were civilians.
Punishment with no trial?
Federal German legal authorities are now investigating the controversial tactic after a nearly two-year long process of determining whether such an investigation is within the scope of their office. The US is operating in a legal gray zone and may have violated international law. Jochen Hippler of the Duisburg Institute for Development and Peace sees the drone attacks in Pakistan as especially problematic since they go against the will of the Pakistani government - at least officially.
Read more: http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16118788,00.html
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