Thread by @ClimateAudit

1/ Iraqi PM Mahdi told the Iraqi parliament that Soleimani was on a special diplomatic mission to Iraq when he was assassinated. If so, he would have been an “internationally protected person” under international law and his assassination would have been

2/ a violation of both international law and 18 USC 1116. An actual high crime and misdemeanor.

Thread on the relevant law.

3/ 18 USC 1116 says that it is a crime to "kill a foreign official,... or internationally protected person". Which includes a representative of foreign govt who is entitled pursuant to international law to special protection against attack"
law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…

4/ according to Franciszek Przetacznik, Protection of Oficials of Foreign States according to International Law, 1983, digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewconten… the protection includes a representative of a foreign government on a "special mission".

5/ under the Convention on Special Missions, legal.un.org/ilc/texts/inst… a “special mission” is a temporary mission, sent by one State to another State with consent of latter for purpose of dealing with it on specific questions or of performing in relation to it a specific task"

6/ if it is true that Soleimani was engaged in the diplomatic message claimed by Iraqi PM Mahdi, he would have been on a "special mission" as defined in international law and been an "internationally protected person" while on that mission

7/ Michael Wood, in Michael Wood, The Immunity of Official Visitors, 2012 mpil.de/files/pdf4/mpu… noted that US and many other countries hadn't ratified the Convention on Special Missions. However, he stated that key elements of the convention were also accepted international law

8/ for example, Wood stated the Convention "may be regarded as an expression of" prevailing opinion on the law in respect to "missions charged with negotiations on a high political level" - a criterion met by Soleimani visit.

9/ he also quoted Wickremasinghe, 2010, as also supporting this interpretation of international law

9/ the obligation to comply with international law in respect to not killing a representative of a foreign government on a diplomatic mission is not simply an obligation under international law, but under US Criminal Code 18 USC 1116

10/ Article 29 of Convention on Special Missions says that members of the special mission shall not be liable to any form of arrest and that the receiving Stae shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on them.