(New York) – The killing in Iraq of a South Korean translator is a cruel and unjustifiable breach of the most basic principles of humanity, Human Rights Watch said today.
Kim Sun-il, who worked as a translator for a security company, was abducted last week near Falluja. The group that claimed responsibility for his abduction, Jamaat al-Tawhid, threatened to execute him unless South Korea reversed its plans to send 3,000 troops to Iraq. South Korea presently has some 600 troops in the country.
“Taking hostages for purposes of political extortion or any other reason is a flagrant violation of international law,” said Joe Stork, Washington director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division. “Those responsible for kidnapping and killing him have marked themselves as criminals of the worst sort.”
Human Rights Watch called on the authorities in Iraq to bring to justice those responsible for the abduction and killing.
