CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

JOSEF MRÁZEK CYIL 11 (2020) attack, unless they take a part in hostilities. 14 These drone strikes possess certain destructive features with non-distinctive consequences which certainly make these strikes illegal. According to Ch. Gray the U.S. program of the use of drones for targeted killings was adopted in reaction to “ the unhappy and arguably unproductive experience of prolonged U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq ”. Targeted killing was seen by U.S. administration as preferable to “boots on the ground”. In Ch. Gray words it was in this context of targeted killing that the U.S. “ expanded its wide doctrine of self-defense against non-state actors ” in the third states that had not themselves been involved in the 9/11 or subsequent terrorist attacks. She added that the U.S. unfortunately did not see the need to legally justify each individual targeted killing, each drone strike as necessary and proportionate self-defense.” 15 O’Connell in her study came to the same conclusion as Alston that the U.S. combat drones in Afghanistan “ fall far short of meeting the international law rules governing resort to armed force and the conduct of armed force ”. She also strongly criticized the U.S. targeted killings (significant military attacks) which in her view are lawful only in the course of an armed conflict. She stressed that the U.S. “has not, however, restricted its attacks to situation of armed conflict ”. 16 4. Assassination, terrorism and extrajudicial executions Assassination has been used at all times as a tool of international terrorism. From the viewpoint of international law, it is necessary to distinguish among exceptional lawful cases of targeted killings and unlawful “assassinations”. 17 The outbreak of World War I (1914–1918) has been connected with assassination of Archduke Frances Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. F. Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot dead by Bosnian/Serb Gavrilo Princip. After the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia in France on 9 October 1934 the Council of the League of Nations decided to bring about an international convention for the prevention and punishment of crimes of political character, described as “ acts of political terrorism ”. 18 The convention was signed in Geneva by 23 states but never entered into force, however. Terrorism is not a new political or legal phenomenon. The stories of assassinations can be traced back the Roman Empire. The term “ assassination ” is derived from the word “ assassins ” (arabic hashshāshīn) designating a religiopolitical islamic sect dating from 11th to the 13th century and known for murdering its enemies as a religious duty. Assassins were operating in the territories of what are now Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Syria. 19 The history of the 14 “So called personality strikes is based on observation of certain patterns of behavior which do not require specific knowledge about an individual’s participation in hostilities or of an “imminent threat”. CURRIER C., ELLIOTT J., The Drone War Doctrine We Still Know Nothing About, ProPublica, 26 February 2013, available at: https://www.propublica.org/article/drone-war-doctrine-we-know-nothing-about, visited on 15 April 2020. 15 GRAY, Ch., The use of force against terrorism: a new war for a new century? In: International Law and the Use of Force (4 th Edition), in Oxford Public International Law, available at: https://opil.ouplaw.com/ view/10.1093/law/9780198808411.001/law-9780198808411-chapter-5, p. 17, Access on 15 April 2020. 16 O’CONNELL , M. E., Unlawful Killing with combat Drones, A Case Study of Pakistan, 2004 – 2009, University of Notre Dame, The Law School, electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1501144, p. 25. 17 “Assassination means “murder committed, usually, though necessarily, for hire, without direct provocation or cause of resentment given to murderer by the person upon whom the crime is committed, though an assassination of a public figure might be done by one acting alone for personal, social or political reasons.” See Black’s Law Dictionary , St. Paul, West Publishing CO, 1990, p. 114. To the historical term of “assassination” see The New Encyclopedia Britannica , Vol I. Micropaedia, London, 2002, p. 640. 18 See LAUTERPACHT H., International Law: A Treatise , Vol. I.: Peace, Longmans, London 1955, p. 710. 19 The New Encyclopedia Britannica , Vol. I., Micropaedia, London, 2002, p. 640.

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