Editing Assassination (section)

==Use in history==
{{Main|History of assassination}}

===Ancient to medieval times===
Assassination is one of the oldest tools of [[power politics]]. It dates back at least as far as recorded history.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Makhanda |first=Sivenathi |title=The History of Assassinations |website=Print, Digital and Broadcast Youth Media |url=https://pdby.co.za/the-history-of-assassinations/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |language=en-ZA}}</ref>

The Egyptian pharaoh [[Teti]], of the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth Dynasty]] (23rd century BCE), is thought to be the earliest known victim of assassination, though written records are scant and thus evidence is circumstantial. Two further ancient Egyptian monarchs are more explicitly recorded to have been assassinated; [[Amenemhat I]] of the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth Dynasty]] (20th century BCE) is recorded to have been assassinated in his bed by his palace guards for reasons unknown (as related in the ''[[Instructions of Amenemhat]]''); meanwhile [[Judicial Papyrus of Turin|contemporary judicial records]] relate the assassination of [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] [[Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt|Twentieth Dynasty]] monarch [[Ramesses III]] in 1155 BCE as part of a [[Harem conspiracy|failed coup attempt]]. Between 550 BC and 330 BC, seven Persian kings of [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Dynasty]] were murdered. [[The Art of War]], a 5th-century BC Chinese military treatise mentions tactics of Assassination and its merits.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Withington |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9sBEAAAQBAJ&q=history+of+assassination |title=Assassins' Deeds: A History of Assassination from Ancient Egypt to the Present Day |date=2020-11-05 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78914-352-2 |language=en}}</ref>

In the [[Old Testament]], King [[Jehoash of Judah|Joash]] of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] was assassinated by his own servants;<ref>2 Kings 12:19–21</ref> [[Joab]] assassinated [[Absalom]], [[King David]]'s son;<ref>2 Samuel 3:26–28 RSV</ref> King [[Sennacherib]] of Assyria was assassinated by his own sons;<ref>2 Chronicles 32:21</ref> and [[Jael]] assassinated [[Sisera]].<ref>Judges 4 and 5</ref>

[[Chanakya]] ({{circa|350}}–283 BC) wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise ''[[Arthashastra]]''. His student [[Chandragupta Maurya]], the founder of the [[Maurya Empire]], later made use of assassinations against some of his enemies.<ref>{{cite journal |author-link = Roger Boesche | first = Roger | last = Boesche |date=January 2003 | title = Kautilya's ''Arthaśāstra'' on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India | journal = The Journal of Military History | volume = 67 | issue = 1 | pages = 9–37 | doi = 10.1353/jmh.2003.0006 | s2cid = 154243517 | url=http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/journal_of_military_history/v067/67.1boesche.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/journal_of_military_history/v067/67.1boesche.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live| doi-access = free }}</ref>

Some famous assassination victims are [[Philip II of Macedon]] (336&nbsp;BC), the father of [[Alexander the Great]], and Roman dictator [[Julius Caesar]] (44&nbsp;BC).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kloWAAAAYAAJ&q=famous+assassinations |title=Famous assassinations of history&nbsp;... |date=March 3, 2008 |access-date=October 27, 2010|last1=Johnson|first1=Francis}}</ref> [[Emperors of Rome]] often met their end in this way, as did many of the Muslim [[Shia Imam]]s hundreds of years later. Three successive Rashidun caliphs ([[Umar]], [[Uthman Ibn Affan]], and [[Ali ibn Abi Talib]]) were assassinated in early civil conflicts between Muslims. The practice was also well known in ancient China, as in [[Jing Ke]]'s failed assassination of [[Qin (state)|Qin]] king [[Qin Shi Huang|Ying Zheng]] in 227&nbsp;BC. Whilst many assassinations were performed by individuals or small groups, there were also specialized units who used a collective group of people to perform more than one assassination. The earliest were the [[sicarii]] in 6 AD, who predated the Middle Eastern [[Order of Assassins|Assassins]] and Japanese [[shinobi]]s by centuries.<ref>Pichtel, John, ''Terrorism and WMDs: Awareness and Response'', CRC Press (April 25, 2011) pp. 3–4. {{ISBN|978-1439851753}}</ref><ref name="Ross">Ross, Jeffrey Ian, ''Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present'', Routledge (January 15, 2011), Chapter: Sicarii. 978-0765620484</ref>

In the [[Middle Ages]], [[regicide]] was rare in Western Europe, but it was a recurring theme in the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]]. Strangling in the bathtub was the most commonly used method. With the [[Renaissance]], [[tyrannicide]]—or assassination for personal or political reasons—became more common again in Western Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Veronesi |first=Gene |title=Chapter 1: The Italian Renaissance and Western Civilization |url=https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/italian-americans-and-their-communities-of-cleveland/chapter/chapter-1/ |journal=Italian Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland}}</ref>

===Modern history===
[[File:Moord op Willem van Oranje, 1584.jpg|thumb|upright|18th-century depiction of the [[William the Silent#Assassination|assassination]] of [[William the Silent]] by [[Balthasar Gérard]] on 10 July 1584]]

During the 16th and 17th centuries, international lawyers began to voice condemnation of assassinations of leaders. [[Balthazar Ayala]] has been described as "the first prominent jurist to condemn the use of assassination in foreign policy".<ref name=Thomas2000>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Ward |title=Norms and Security: The Case of International Assassination |journal=International Security |date=July 2000 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=105–133 |doi=10.1162/016228800560408 |jstor=2626775 |s2cid=57572213 }}</ref> [[Alberico Gentili]] condemned assassinations in a 1598 publication where he appealed to the self-interest of leaders: (i) assassinations had adverse short-term consequences by arousing the ire of the assassinated leader's successor, and (ii) assassinations had the adverse long-term consequences of causing disorder and chaos.<ref name=Thomas2000/> [[Hugo Grotius]]'s works on the law of war strictly forbade assassinations, arguing that killing was only permissible on the battlefield.<ref name=Thomas2000/> In the modern world, the killing of important people began to become more than a tool in power struggles between rulers themselves and was also used for political symbolism, such as in the [[propaganda of the deed]].<ref name="Gillen">M. Gillen (1972). ''Assassination of the Prime Minister: the shocking death of Spencer Perceval''. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. {{ISBN|0-283-97881-3}}.</ref>

In Japan, a group of assassins called the [[Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu]] killed a number of people, including [[Ii Naosuke]] who was the head of administration for the Tokugawa shogunate, during the [[Boshin War]].<ref>Turnbull, Stephen. ''The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War''. Tuttle Publishing; 1st edition (August 5, 2014). p. 182. {{ISBN|978-4805312940}}</ref> Most of the assassinations in Japan were committed with bladed weaponry, a trait that was carried on into modern history.  A video-record exists of the [[Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma|assassination of Inejiro Asanuma]], using a sword.<ref name=chun>{{cite book |title=A Nation of a Hundred Million Idiots?: A Social History of Japanese Television, 1953–1973 |last=Chun |first=Jayson Makoto |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9miRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA184 |pages=184–185 |isbn=978-0-415-97660-2 |access-date=March 22, 2014}}</ref>

In 1895, a group of Japanese assassins [[Assassination of Empress Myeongseong|killed the Korean queen]] (and posthumously empress) Myeongseong.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nagai |first=Yasuji |date=2021-11-21 |title=Diplomat's 1895 letter confesses to assassination of Korean queen |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14482741 |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=The Asahi Shimbun |language=en}}</ref>

In the United States, from 1865 to 1963, four presidents—[[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Abraham Lincoln]], [[Assassination of James A. Garfield|James A. Garfield]], [[Assassination of William McKinley|William McKinley]] and [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]]—died at the hands of assassins. There have been at least [[List of United States presidential assassination attempts|20 known attempts]] on U.S. presidents' lives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Appendix 7 |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix7.html |website=National Archives |access-date=20 May 2023 |language=en |date=15 August 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Thugs Strangling Traveller.jpg|thumb|A group of [[Thuggee]]s strangling a traveller on a highway in India in the early 19th century]]
In Austria, the [[assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand]] and his wife [[Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg]] was carried out in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, by [[Gavrilo Princip]], a Serbian nationalist. He is blamed for igniting [[World War I]]. [[Reinhard Heydrich]] died after an attack by British-trained Czechoslovak soldiers on behalf of the Czechoslovak government in exile in [[Operation Anthropoid]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.army.cz/images/id_7001_8000/7419/assassination-en.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.army.cz/images/id_7001_8000/7419/assassination-en.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Assassination&nbsp;– Operation Arthropoid, 1941–1942 |access-date= July 5, 2011 |last=Burian |first=Michal |author2=Aleš |year=2002 |publisher=Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic}}</ref> and knowledge from decoded transmissions allowed the United States to carry out [[Death of Isoroku Yamamoto|a targeted attack]], killing Japanese [[Admiral]] [[Isoroku Yamamoto]] while he was travelling by plane.<ref name=McNaughton2006>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHdFDZwbnkkC&pg=PA185 |page=185 |last=McNaughton |first=James C. |date=2006 |title=Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=9780160867057}}</ref>

During the 1930s and 1940s, [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[NKVD]] carried out numerous assassinations outside of the Soviet Union, such as the killings of [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]] leader [[Yevhen Konovalets]], [[Ignace Poretsky]], [[Fourth International]] secretary Rudolf Klement, [[Leon Trotsky]], and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ([[POUM]]) leadership in [[Catalonia]].<ref>Michael Ellman. [http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/soviet/famine/ellman.pdf "The Role of Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 1931–1934"]'). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227181110/http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/soviet/famine/ellman.pdf |date=February 27, 2009 }}. ''Europe-Asia Studies'', 2005. p. 826</ref> India's "Father of the Nation", [[Mahatma Gandhi]], was [[Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi|shot to death]] on January 30, 1948, by [[Nathuram Godse]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardiman |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52127756 |title=Gandhi in his time and ours: the global legacy of his ideas |date=2003 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-13114-3 |location=New York |oclc=52127756}}</ref>

The African-American civil rights activist [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] was [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|assassinated]] on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel (now the [[National Civil Rights Museum]]) in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. Three years prior, another African-American civil rights activist, [[Malcolm X]], was assassinated at the [[Audubon Ballroom]] on February 21, 1965.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Karim |first1=Benjamin |first2=David |last2=Gallen |first3=Peter |last3=Skutches |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26931305 |title=Remembering Malcolm |date=1992 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |isbn=0-88184-901-4 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=26931305}}</ref>

===Cold War and beyond===
{{See also|Cold War|War on terror}}
[[File:IndiraGandhi-SareeAtTimeOfDeath.JPG|thumb|[[Indira Gandhi]]'s blood-stained [[sari]] and belongings at the time of her assassination. She was the [[Prime Minister of India]].]]

Most major powers repudiated Cold War assassination tactics, but many allege that was merely a smokescreen for political benefit and that covert and illegal training of assassins continues today, with Russia, Israel, the U.S., [[Argentina]], Paraguay, Chile, and other nations accused of engaging in such operations.<ref>John Dingles (2004). ''The Condor Years''. {{ISBN|978-1-56584-764-4}}.</ref> After the [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979, the new Islamic government of Iran began an international campaign of assassination that lasted into the 1990s. At least 162 killings in 19 countries have been linked to the senior leadership of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/No-Safe-Haven_May08.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902192858/http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/No-Safe-Haven_May08.pdf | archive-date=September 2, 2010| title=English front cover – No Safe Haven | access-date=June 2, 2010 | page=100}}</ref> The campaign came to an end after the [[Mykonos restaurant assassinations]] because a German court publicly implicated senior members of the government and issued arrest warrants for [[Ali Fallahian]], the head of Iranian intelligence.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Murder-at-Mykonos_Mar07.pdf |title=Mykonos front cover |access-date=May 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902192942/http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Murder-at-Mykonos_Mar07.pdf |archive-date=September 2, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Evidence indicates that Fallahian's personal involvement and individual responsibility for the murders were far more pervasive than his current indictment record represents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Condemned-by-Law_Nov08.pdf |title=Condemned by Law – Report 11-10-08.doc |access-date=May 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100307043035/http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Condemned-by-Law_Nov08.pdf |archive-date=March 7, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In India, Prime Ministers [[Indira Gandhi]] and her son [[Rajiv Gandhi]] (neither of whom was related to [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who had himself been assassinated in 1948), were assassinated in 1984 and 1991 in what were linked to [[separatist]] movements in [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] and northern [[Sri Lanka]], respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |title=India: Extremism & Terrorism |url=https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/india-extremism-and-terrorism |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=Counter Extremism Project |language=en}}</ref>

In 1994, the [[assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira]] during the [[Rwandan Civil War]] sparked the [[Rwandan genocide]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Jacquemin |first=Céline A. |title=Hegemony and Counterhegemony |date=2015 |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137555007_6 |work=The Roots of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: From Grievance to Violence |pages=93–123 |editor-last=Nasong'o |editor-first=Wanjala S. |access-date=2023-08-14 |place=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137555007_6 |isbn=978-1-137-55500-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter=Opportunity II: Death of the Nation's Father |date=2021 |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/path-to-genocide-in-rwanda/opportunity-ii-death-of-the-nations-father/C7E379604EFF1D0CE0CAA512F67198D8 |title=The Path to Genocide in Rwanda: Security, Opportunity, and Authority in an Ethnocratic State |pages=178–247 |editor-last=McDoom |editor-first=Omar Shahabudin |access-date=2023-08-14 |series=African Studies |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108868839.005 |isbn=978-1-108-49146-4|s2cid=235502691 }}</ref>

In Israel, Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]] was assassinated on November 4, 1995, by [[Yigal Amir]], who opposed the [[Oslo Accords]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-assassination-of-yitzhak-rabin |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1993–2000 |publisher=Office of the Historian, US State Department |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1993-2000/oslo |access-date=2023-12-31}}</ref> In [[Lebanon]], the assassination of former Prime Minister [[Rafik Hariri]] on February 14, 2005, prompted an investigation by the United Nations. The suggestion in the resulting ''[[Mehlis report]]'' that there was involvement by [[Syria]] prompted the [[Cedar Revolution]], which drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

On 2 September 2022, a 35 year old Brazilian national attempted to assassinate the then vice-president of Argentina, [[Cristina Fernández de Kirchner]]. However, the attempt was unsuccessful because the assassin's gun jammed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Binley |first1=Alex |last2=Murphy |first2=Matt |title=Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: Gun jams during bid to kill Argentina vice-president |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-62762421 |access-date=22 May 2024 |work=BBC News |date=2 September 2022}}</ref>

==== United States government killing of citizens ====
In 2012, ''[[The New York Times]]'' revealed that the Obama administration maintained a "kill list" containing terrorism suspects.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Becker |first1=Jo |last2=Shane |first2=Scott |date=May 29, 2012 |title=Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html |access-date=September 21, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The list is sometimes referred to as a "disposition matrix", and President Obama made a final decision on whether anyone listed would be killed, without court oversight and without trial.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-06-13 |title=How Obama's 'Disposition Matrix' Kill List Could Be Used on U.S. Soil |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna52192630 |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> In September 2011, American citizens [[Anwar Al-Awlaki]] and [[Samir Khan]] were assassinated in [[Yemen]] by the United States government via drone strikes. Two weeks later, Awlaki's 16-year-old son, also an American citizen, was killed in a strike targeting [[Ibrahim al-Banna]], a senior operative in [[Al-Qaeda]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Whitlock |first=Craig |date=October 22, 2011 |title=U.S. airstrike that killed American teen in Yemen raises legal, ethical questions |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-airstrike-that-killed-american-teen-in-yemen-raises-legal-ethical-questions/2011/10/20/gIQAdvUY7L_story.html |access-date=September 21, 2024 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Greenwald |first=Glenn |date=5 February 2013 |title=Chilling legal memo from Obama DOJ justifies assassination of US citizens |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/05/obama-kill-list-doj-memo |access-date=8 July 2023 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> Al-Banna was not killed in the strike.<ref name=":0" />