(New York) -- Human Rights Watch today condemned the apparent execution of a captured American service member by Al Qaida fighters in Afghanistan. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. Roberts was reportedly seized after dropping from a helicopter.
.S. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld indicated today that the United States had not yet come to a final conclusion about the circumstances of Roberts' death. If reports of his execution are true, however, it would represent a blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions, which applies to all parties in the present conflict in Afghanistan.
"Murdering a prisoner is a war crime, plain and simple," said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch.
