http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21622750-2703,00.html
Taliban uses child to behead 'spy' a.. David Nason, New York correspondent b.. April 26, 2007 THE Taliban's use of a child to behead a man accused of being a US spy has been condemned as a war crime and a grotesque example of the abuse of children in armed conflict. A shocking video circulating in Pakistan shows the boy, believed to be just 11 or 12 years old, standing over his bound and blindfolded victim with a long knife and, in a high-pitched voice, denouncing him as an American spy about to meet his fate. A man then holds the victim by the beard while the boy, wearing a camouflage jacket and white sneakers, cuts his throat. The boy then continues to hack away at the neck until the victim's head is severed from his body. The video then shows the boy holding the head aloft by the hair while spectators chant "Allahu akbar", which translates to "God is great". The background soundtrack to the video is a droning Islamic chant praising Osama bin Laden and the fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar. The UN Children's Fund (Unicef), which campaigns against the use of children in conflict in any capacity and by any party, said the execution was a terrible example of how children could be used by adults to commit heinous crimes in times of conflict. "The use of children under 15 years of age - as is apparent in this case - is a war crime under international law," Unicef said. "It is not uncommon to see children forced to commit atrocities against their neighbours and even their own families. These acts cut off all ties between these children and their original communities and strengthen their dependency on the armed group that has recruited them." Sam Zarifi, Asia research director for Human Rights Watch, said the use of a child to commit such an act was a "new low" in the conflict in Afghanistan. The victim of the beheading was identified as Ghulam Nabi, a pro-Taliban Pakistani militant from the village of Kili Faqiran in Baluchistan province, near the Afghan border. Nabi was accused of betraying top Taliban official Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, regarded as one of the top three associates of Omar, the Taliban supreme leader. Osmani was killed in an airstrike while travelling by car in Afghanistan's Helmand province on December 19 last year. But Nabi's father said his son was a loyal Taliban member who fought in Afghanistan and sheltered the group's hardline leaders in the family's mud-walled compound. The international outcry over the manner of Nabi's death came as US forces reportedly killed an al-Qa'ida kingpin who recruited 12-year-old boys as suicide car bombers in Iraq. The US said it had identified a man killed northwest of Baghdad last Friday as Muhammad Abdullah Abbas al-Issawi, who was al-Qa'ida's "security emir" in eastern Anbar province. "Coalition forces were conducting operations targeting associates of a known senior leader within al-Qa'ida in Iraq," a US military statement said. "During the operation the terrorists engaged ground forces with small-arms fire. Coalition forces used appropriate self-defence measures and engaged the armed men, killing two and detaining one." The statement cited intelligence reports that said al-Issawi used 12- and 13-year-old children as car bomb drivers. He was also a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former al-Qa'ida leader who was killed in Iraq last June in a US air strike. Unicef said children forced to witness or participate in extreme violence could suffer long-term damage to their emotional well-being if they did not receive appropriate support. Unicef works with former child soldiers to reintegrate them into communities and supports programs addressing their psychological and emotional distress. Most of Unicef's children in armed conflict work is in Africa, namely Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sudan
