Tag Archives: Iraq
25 September 2012
The continuing conflict in Syria has raised many questions of shared responsibility (see, for example, here and here). This blog post will discuss the issue of the provision of weapons and other military equipment to Syria.
In June this year, Human Rights Watch urged governments and companies around the world to stop signing new contracts (and evaluate existing contracts) with arms suppliers that are providing weapons to the Syrian government, such as the Russian firm Rosoboronexport, and suggested that those providing weapons to the Syrian regime could be regarded as being complicit in the crimes committed by the Syrian army. (more…)
10 September 2012
The State Department of the United States (US) stated that Iraq is obliged under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions to require Iranian planes, which are suspected to be flying arms into Syria over Iraqi airspace, to land in Iraq so that the cargo can be examined.
Iranian flights over Iraqi airspace were suspended in March, after the US objected, but flights resumed in July. According to US intelligence, these flights were carrying military equipment and weapons. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki stated he was assured by Iran that these flights only carried humanitarian aid.
Source: New York Times | U.S. Presses Iraq on Iranian Planes Thought to Carry Arms to Syria
20 August 2012
According to former and current Iraqi and United States government officials and experts on the Iraqi banking sector, Iraq has been aiding Iran to circumvent international financial sanctions, imposed on Iran because of its nuclear program.
One bank, the Elaf Islamic Bank in Baghdad was barred from any dealings with the banking system of the United States. According to President Obama, this bank has ‘facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks that are subject to sanctions for their links to Iran’s illicit proliferation activities’.
Iranian organizations gained, according to said sources, ‘effective control over at least four Iraqi commercial banks through Iraqi intermediaries’, giving Iran access to the international financial system.
Source: New York Times | U.S. Says Iraqis Are Helping Iran to Skirt Sanctions
3 May 2012
The Danish Government has decided to appoint a Commission of Inquiry on the Danish involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Commission also has to examine the practice of detention and transfers of prisoners in Afghanistan by Danish forces.
Source: EJIL:Talk! | Denmark Establishes a Commission of Inquiry into the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
15 December 2011
At Lawfare, Robert Chesney notes an decision of the UK Court of Appeals (Civil Division) of 14 December that raises interesting questions of shared responsibility. The case is Yunus Ramhmatullah v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs et ano. The Court, by an opinion of the Master of the Rolls, held that a Pakistani man (Yunus Rahmatullah) held by the US military in Afghanistan may pursue a habeas corpus petition against the UK’s Secretary of State for Defence and for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. (more…)