Geneva-The escalating rate of extrajudicial executions in the Middle East, amid a significant lack of justice and accountability is seriously worrying, said The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

The case of prominent Iraqi historian and researcher Hashim al-Hashimi was highlighted by the Euro-Med Monitor at the 44th session of UNHRC, as the whereabouts of shooting dead by unknown gunmen near his house were explained, after receiving death threats from an armed militia group, known as the Hezbollah Brigades.

On the other hand, the harrowing details of Israel’s police killing of a young autistic Palestinian Eyad Hallaq in Jerusalem were presented before the Council, who posed no danger to the soldiers and was shot dead after being wounded and neutralized. Although Israel announced launching an investigation into the crimes, it has consistently refused to reveal the footage of Mr. Hallaq’s murder, which means the investigation has been going nowhere.

As for the case of Saudi Journalist Jamal Kashouggi, it turned out that after two years of his assassination and despite the United Nations 2019 report pointing to certain perpetrators involved in this gruesome crime, justice has not been served yet and accountability remains far-reached.

The common ground in all those extrajudicial executions is the refusal of official authorities to take serious action to ensure accountability and justice and deter the future occurrence of such crimes.

The alarming lack of accountability in such incidents will encourage carrying out more similar crimes in the future including in other countries which means losing more lives just because of political or religious differences.

The governments of the said countries should allow for a serious, transparent and independent investigation into these incidents of arbitrary killings and should follow up with concrete measures to put an end to such crimes.