US turning suspicion into death sentence by extrajudicial killings in Caribbean: Iran

Iran has censured the United States for its ‘extrajudicial killing’ of suspected drug traffickers, saying the move exposes the true nature of a country that has long lectured others on human rights.

In a post on his X account on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political and Legal Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi reacted to reports that the US Defense Department has been forced to investigate claims of the unlawful killing of nearly 200 people as part of operations to strike dozens of boats suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific in recent months.

Gharibabadi said the US military carried out the attacks while keeping the American people unaware of any evidence or the identities of the victims, and without carrying out any arrests or trials.

"Fighting drug trafficking has a legal path: investigation, arrest, evidence, trial, and due process. Firing on people at sea, without trial and without transparency, is nothing but extrajudicial killing — the very point at which the mask of human rights falls from the face of those who claim to defend it," said the diplomat.

Gharibabadi said the United States has effectively turned suspicion into a death sentence by targeting those people at sea, adding that Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes the right to life as a fundamental right.

"Washington, which has long lectured others on human rights, must explain how it has replaced courts with missiles, and law with death without trial," he said.

The comments come as Gharibabadi has frequently posted in recent weeks to expose the US government’s double standards in dealing with various legal and rights issues, including the violations committed by the US military during a joint aggression with the Israeli regime against Iran that came to a halt with a ceasefire in early April.

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