Afghanistan Islamic Republic of Afghanistan officials presided over murders, abduction, and other abuses with the tacit backing of their government and its western allies,
Human Rights Watch alleged in its report from March 2015.
Azerbaijan Azerbaijani forces have performed extrajudicial executions of the ethnic Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabakh, including both civilians and prisoners of war. These executions have been characterized by various sources as acts of
ethnic cleansing.
Genocide Watch and various UN officials, including the
U.N. Committee against Torture (CAT), have expressed concern over the ethnic dimension of these executions.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention noted that Azerbaijan's escalating human rights violations against Armenians—including extrajudicial executions— may represent acts preparatory to genocide and align with the
UN's Genocide Risk Factor 7. Many victims have been elderly or disabled who could not flee. An investigation by University Network for Human Rights corroborated 150 cases of extrajudicial executions, with the majority of them occurring after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. Human rights advocates stated that the widespread nature of extrajudicial executions, often broadcast on social media by Azeri soldiers, suggests a systematic practice aimed at instilling fear among the population, and humiliating the families of the deceased. The
Bangladesh Police special security force
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has long been known for extrajudicial killing. In a leaked
WikiLeaks cable it was found that RAB was trained by the
UK government. 16 RAB officials (sacked afterwards) including Lt Col (sacked)
Tareque Sayeed, Major (sacked) Arif Hossain, and Lt Commander (sacked) Masud Rana were given death penalty for abduction, murder, concealing the bodies, conspiracy and destroying evidences in the
Narayanganj Seven Murder case. Beside this many alleged criminals were killed by Bangladesh police by the name of
Crossfire. In 2018, many alleged drug dealers were killed in the name of "
war on drugs" in Bangladesh. The
United Nations criticised the government under
Sheikh Hasina for high rates of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, especially the members of
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, including former elected
MPs.
India Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a political refugee from India living in Canada. He was murdered 18 June 2023. Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau accused 18 September 2023 the Indian government publicly of complicity. Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in India. A form of extrajudicial killing is called
police encounters. Such encounters are also being staged by military and other
security forces. Police Encounter on 6 December 2019, by the
Telangana Police in the
2019 Hyderabad gang rape case killing the 4 accused is another form of extrajudicial killing. The secret killings of Assam (1998–2001) was probably the darkest chapter in Assam's political history when relatives, friends, sympathisers of
United Liberation Front of Asom insurgents were systematically killed by unknown assailants. These extrajudicial murders happened in Assam between 1998 and 2001. These extrajudicial killings were conducted by the
Government of Assam using
SULFA members and the security forces in the name of counter-insurgency operations. The victims of these killings were relatives, friends and colleagues of ULFA militants. The most apparent justification for the whole exercise was that it was a tit-for-tat response to the ULFA-sponsored terrorism, especially the killings of their old comrades—the SULFAs.
Indonesia Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in
Indonesia.
Iran In the
1953 Iranian coup d'état a regime was installed through the efforts of the American
CIA and the British
MI6 in which the Shah (hereditary monarch)
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi used
SAVAK death squads (also trained by the CIA) to imprison, torture and/or kill hundreds of dissidents. After the
1979 revolution death squads were used to an even greater extent by the new Islamic government. In 1983, the CIA gave the
Supreme Leader of Iran—
Ayatollah Khomeini—information on
KGB agents in Iran. This information was probably used. The Iranian government later used death squads occasionally throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; however by the 2000s it seems to have almost entirely, if not completely, ceased using them. The Dutch secretary of Foreign Affairs
Stef Blok wrote January 2019 to the
States General of the Netherlands that the intelligence service
AIVD had strong indications that Iran is responsible for the murder of Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi in 2015 in Almere and of Ahmad Mola Nissi in 2017 in The Hague. On 4 February 2021 Iranian diplomat
Asadollah Asadi and three other Iranian nationals were convicted in Antwerp for plotting to
bomb a 2018 rally of National Council of Resistance of Iran in France.
Iraq Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in
Iraq. Iraq was formed as a
League of Nations mandate by the partition and domination of various tribal lands by the
British Empire in the early 20th century, after the
break-up of the Ottoman Empire in the
aftermath of World War I. The
United Kingdom granted independence to the
Kingdom of Iraq in 1932, on the urging of
King Faisal, though the
British Armed Forces retained military bases and transit rights.
King Ghazi of Iraq ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal's death in 1933, while undermined by attempted military coups, until his death in 1939.
The United Kingdom invaded Iraq in 1941 for fear that the government of
Rashid Ali al-Gaylani might cut oil supplies to Western nations, and because of his links to the
Axis powers. A military occupation followed the restoration of the
Hashemite monarchy, and the occupation ended on 26 October 1947. Iraq was left with a national government led from
Baghdad made up of
Sunni ethnicity in key positions of power, ruling over an ad hoc nation splintered by tribal affiliations. This leadership used death squads and committed massacres in Iraq throughout the 20th century, culminating in the
Ba'athist dictatorship of
Saddam Hussein. The country has since become increasingly partitioned following the
Iraq War into three zones: a
Kurdish ethnic zone to the north, a Sunni center and the
Shia ethnic zone to the south. The
secular Arab socialist Baathist leadership were replaced with a provisional and later constitutional government that included leadership roles for the Shia (Prime Minister) and Kurdish (President of the Republic) peoples of the nation. This paralleled the development of ethnic militias by the Shia, Sunni, and the Kurdish (
Peshmerga). There were
death squads formed by members of every ethnicity. In the national capital of Baghdad some members of the now-Shia
Iraqi security forces (and militia members posing as members of
Iraqi Police or
Iraqi Armed Forces) formed unofficial, unsanctioned, but long-tolerated death squads. They possibly had links to the
Interior Ministry and were popularly known as the '
black crows'. These groups operated night or day. They usually arrested people, then either tortured or killed them. The victims of these attacks were predominantly young males who had probably been suspected of being members of the Sunni
insurgency. Agitators such as Abdul Razaq al-Na'as, Dr. Abdullateef al-Mayah, and Dr. Wissam Al-Hashimi have also been killed. These killings are not limited to men; women and children have also been arrested and/or killed. Some of these killings have also been part of simple robberies or other criminal activities. A feature in a May 2005 issue of the magazine of
The New York Times claimed that the
Multi-National Force – Iraq had modelled the "
Wolf Brigade", the Iraqi interior ministry police commandos, on the death squads used in the 1980s to crush the left-wing insurgency in
El Salvador. Western news organizations such as
Time and
People disassembled this by focusing on aspects such as probable
militia membership, religious ethnicity, as well as uniforms worn by these squads rather than stating the
United States-backed Iraqi government had death squads active in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Israel In a report from October 2015,
Amnesty International documented incidents that "appear to have been extrajudicial executions" against Palestinian civilians. Several of those incidents occurred after Palestinians attempted to attack Israelis or
Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Even though the attackers did not pose a serious threat, they were shot without attempting to arrest the suspects before resorting to the use of lethal force. Medical attention for severely wounded Palestinians was in many cases delayed by Israeli forces.
The New York Times reported 13 November 2020 that
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah was assassinated 7 August 2020 on the streets of Tehran by Israeli operatives at the behest of the United States, according to four intelligence officials of the United States. On 16 March 2023, the Israeli Army killed four Palestinian militants in
Jenin. One motionless victim was shot in the head. According to The Guardian, the Israeli group of military veterans against the occupation,
Breaking the Silence, called this an "extrajudicial execution".
Pakistan Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in
Pakistan. A form of extrajudicial killing called
encounter killings by police is common in Pakistan. Case in point is
Naqeebullah Mehsud and
Sahiwal Killings. The
Province of Balochistan has also seen a significant number of disappearances, many of which have been attributed to security forces by residents: anti-government
Baloch nationalists claim thousands of cases and have stated a belief that most of these disappeared persons have been killed. Official numbers of disappeared persons have varied considerably, ranging between 55 and 1,100 victims. Human rights organizations have dubbed this practice as the "kill and dump policy".
Philippines Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in the
Philippines.
Maguindanao massacre The
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called the massacre the single deadliest event for
journalists in history. Even prior to this, the CPJ had labeled the
Philippines the second most dangerous country for journalists, second only to
Iraq. The Philippine president has urged its
citizens to kill suspected criminals and drug addicts, ordered the police to adopt a
shoot-to-kill policy, has offered
rewards for killing suspects, and has even admitted to personally
killing suspected criminals. The move has sparked widespread condemnation from
international publications and
magazines, prompting the Philippine government to issue statements denying the existence of state-sanctioned killings. Though Duterte's controversial
war on drugs was opposed by the
United States under President
Barack Obama, the
European Union, and the United Nations, Duterte claims that he has received approving remarks from US President
Donald Trump. On 26 September 2016, Duterte issued guidelines that would enable the United Nations Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings to probe the rising death toll. On 14 December 2016, Duterte cancelled the planned visit of the Rapporteur who declined to accept government conditions that were not consistent with the code of conduct for special rapporteurs.
Saudi Arabia The Saudi dissident
Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018.
Syria Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in
Syria.
Tajikistan Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in
Tajikistan.
Thailand Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in
Thailand. Reportedly thousands of
extrajudicial killings occurred during the 2003 anti-drug effort of
Thailand's prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra. Rumors still persist that there is collusion between the government, rogue military officers, the radical right wing, and anti-drug
death squads. Both
Muslim and
Buddhist sectarian death squads still operate in the south of the country.
Turkey Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in
Turkey. In 1990
Amnesty International published its first report on
extrajudicial executions in Turkey. In 2001, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms.
Asma Jahangir, presented a report on a visit to Turkey. The report presented details of killings of prisoners (26 September 1999, 10 prisoners killed in a prison in Ankara; 19 December 2000, an operation in 20 prisons launched throughout Turkey resulted in the death of 30 inmates and two gendarmes). For the years 2000–2008, the
Human Rights Association (HRA) gave the following figures on doubtful deaths/deaths in custody/extra judicial execution/torture by paid village guards: In 2008, the human rights organization Mazlum Der counted 25 extrajudicial killings in Turkey.
Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Lém (died 1 February 1968 in Saigon), also referred to as Captain Bảy Lốp, was a member of the
Viet Cong who was summarily shot in
Saigon during the
Tet Offensive. The photograph of his death would become one of many anti-
Vietnam War icons in the
Western World. == Europe ==