Diplomatic Immunity, American-Style
By Larry Romanoff, March 09, 2021
This article appeared first at PRAVDA
In late 2013 an Indian diplomat, 39 year old, was the Deputy
Consul-General in New York, and by all reports had an excellent reputation and
was honorably discharging her consular duties. But then she was suddenly
charged with submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for a
housekeeper. She was arrested and handcuffed while dropping her daughter off at
school, was taken to a police station and strip-searched, given a body cavity
search, then put into a cell with drug dealers and held there until she was
finally released on $250,000 bail. (1)
The Federal Prosecutor, Preet Bharara, claimed agents had arrested
her "in the most discreet way possible", having doing so in full view
of her daughter, her daughter's friends, and most of the teachers and students.
He said "there can be no plausible claim that this case was somehow an
injustice", calling her treatment "standard procedure" even for
diplomatic personnel, claiming further that during her strip and cavity
searches she had been "accorded courtesies well beyond what other
defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded". He claimed
these procedures were "standard practice for every defendant, rich or
poor, American or not, in order to make sure that no prisoner keeps anything on
his person that could harm anyone, including himself". He said his
office’s sole motivation was to uphold the law, protect victims and hold
lawbreakers accountable, "no matter what their societal status and no
matter how powerful, rich or connected they are". It staggers our
imagination and leaves us numb and unable to respond when faced with such
incredibly shameful lies.
The mess was later blamed largely on a mistake, a claim that the
low-level agent who drew up the charges against Ms. Khobragade had confused two
documents - Ms. Khobragade's visa application and that of her housekeeper - and
"misunderstood" Ms. Khobragade's salary as the amount she meant to
pay her maid. It would appear that no visa fraud actually occurred after all,
and it was further discovered Ms. Khobragade was after all attached to the UN
as an advisor, which function unquestionably granted her full diplomatic
immunity. A US judge later ruled the woman had full diplomatic immunity and
could not be arrested or charged (2), but the US State department
repeatedly refused to acknowledge her diplomatic status, although finally
permitting her to leave the country.
However, and if all the claims had been true, this really would have
been at most a simple issue of a wage mis-statement which is a misdemeanor
offense and not a felony, and would normally be investigated by the Department
of Labor. In fact, this is a common issue with many foreign household and
agricultural workers in the US, and also occurs daily with restaurant workers,
but never in the history of America has a restaurant or farm owner been
arrested and strip-searched because of a low-level wage or visa dispute. And
for such a minor offense the bail is usually around $5,000, not $250,000. So
what really happened?
Well, only a few weeks before being abruptly arrested and
strip-searched in New York, Ms. Khobragade had managed to make some powerful
enemies in the US pharmaceutical industry about India's treatment of US
so-called intellectual property. The Indian government and courts have taken IP
actions that angered the Americans, including denial to US firms of
pharmaceutical patents that were not a true innovation, and permitting
compulsory licensing for production of generic medicines. The US Chamber of
Commerce (AmCham) was hysterical at India's actions, referring to
"unprecedented patent revocations and denials" and accusing India of
being "an outlier in the global economy". AmCham's "Global IP
Center" held a public event in New York at which it attacked India's
practices, and at which Ms. Khobragade was "outspoken" in defense of
her country's practices, and where she engaged in "debate" with US
industry executives, demanding that in future an Indian representative be given
a formal place at these events to present India's side of the story. Shortly
thereafter, US officials were busy strip-searching, humiliating, and deporting
the woman who dared confront the IP kings of AmCham and the US pharma industry.
If you needed any proof of the hardball nature of the IP sections of America's
proposed TPP, this should do it. It seems there is nothing to low for the
Americans to attempt.
Here is another incident, this one from the other side of the
fence. In January of 2011, CIA agent Raymond Davis was driving down a street in
Lahore, Pakistan, when he stopped at a red light. A motorbike carrying two
Pakistani Intelligence agents keeping Davis under surveillance due to suspicion
of criminal activities, pulled in front of his car. Davis drew an automatic
weapon and killed both men, claiming they had attempted to rob him and that he
acted in self-defense. (3) (4) But the documented facts from multiple witnesses
clearly proved that Davis initiated the violence. When the motorcycle stopped
in front of his car, Davis first fired five shots through the windshield,
killing one man and injuring the other, then got out of his vehicle, shot four
more rounds into the two men as they lay on the pavement, then four more shots
into one man's back as he was trying to run away, killing him as well.
Witnesses testified that Davis then walked back to his car, called for backup
on a military radio, then took photos of the men he had just killed. One
witness who watched from his restaurant across the street, said he was amazed
at the American's manner. "He was very peaceful and confident. I was
wondering how he could be like that after killing two people," he said.
Minutes later, four Americans in a Toyota jeep with fake
registration plates left Davis' home and made a frantic but unsuccessful
attempt to reach Davis and rescue him. Finding their vehicle trapped in a
traffic jam, they crossed the median and traveled against the oncoming traffic,
colliding with a motorcycle and killing the driver. After the accident, they
fled the scene and drove at high speed to the US Embassy, jettisoning many bits
of evidence along the way including 100 bullets, knives, gloves, a blindfold.
Witnesses later told police that one American opened the door to their vehicle,
displayed a rifle and threatened to kill anyone who got in their way.
Davis also attempted to escape in his vehicle but was apprehended
and charged with double murder, espionage and the illegal possession of a
firearm. Although Davis was part of the CIA's Global Response Staff, he was at
the time doing some contract espionage work for Xe Services, the private
company formerly known as Blackwater that was involved in a multitude of
scandals in Iraq that included mass murders and many other crimes. Items
recovered from Davis's car included a Glock handgun, an infrared light, a
portable telescope, GPS equipment, two mobile phones, a satellite phone, 9mm
ammunition, multiple ATM and military ID cards, multiple ID cards from several
different US consulates, facial disguise and makeup, and a camera. According to
Pakistani officials, Davis' camera contained photos of "prohibited areas
such as installations along the border with India", stating "This is
not the work of a diplomat. He was doing espionage and other activities".
US President Obama demanded that Pakistan free "our diplomat" under the Vienna convention rules, and the State Department exerted fierce and unrelenting pressure on Pakistan to release Davis. US officials insisted Davis was a diplomat doing "technical and administrative work" at the embassy and had to be treated as such, though he was a common criminal in the country on a tourist passport, had no diplomatic credentials and no consular functions. Pakistani officials demanded the US turn over for questioning the men in the Embassy who had attempted to rescue Davis and had killed the motorcyclist, but the Americans refused and spirited the men out of Pakistan. Davis was released after the families of the two killed men were paid $2.4 million in what is called "blood money".
In another incident, in August of 2013 an American diplomat,
Joshua Walde, an information management officer at the US Embassy in Nairobi,
Kenya, was driving his SUV at a high rate of speed when he made an illegal
turn, crossed the highway centre line, and rammed into a full mini-bus, killing
a father of three whose widow was six months pregnant and seriously injuring
eight other people. (5) (6) US Embassy officials in Nairobi took advantage of
Walde's diplomatic immunity and rushed the American and his family out of Kenya
the next day, leaving the crash victims with no financial assistance. Officials
noted that embassy employees are typically evacuated "for medical
evaluations" after traumatic events but also are flown out of a country
"to avoid any possible retribution". Hilary Renner, a State
Department spokeswoman in Washington, said the embassy extends "its
deepest condolences" to the family of the dead man, and "wishes a
speedy recovery" to those injured.
The official position of all civilised nations toward a foreign
diplomat resident in their countries is that "He is a diplomat and has the
privileges of a diplomat. If you’re a diplomat and you commit any crime, the
case is investigated and is forwarded to your embassy. That’s what the law says
and we work within the law". However, the official position of the American
government toward foreign diplomats in the US is different. A State Department
"guidance paper" for American law enforcement officials on how
diplomatic immunity works even at the highest levels says that "diplomatic
immunity is not intended to serve as a license for persons to flout the law and
purposely avoid liability for their actions. The purpose of these privileges
and immunities is not to benefit individuals but to ensure the efficient and
effective performance of their official missions on behalf of their
governments."
These claims, however, appear to be at variance with the facts. As
one of hundreds of these cases, US consular officials in Pakistan regularly
flout domestic laws in hiring local staff. In 2009 CNN reported that many local
staff of US diplomats were being paid less than $1 a day, in violation of the
minimum wage laws that stipulate at least $7.25 per hour. Employment contracts
are apparently violated with impunity and specify that all staff issues
including compensation will be decided exclusively by the US consular staff
with no recourse to either domestic or US law - contract wording that is itself
illegal, since no contract anywhere can eliminate recourse to local courts. But
then, these are Americans, and their world is apparently different than ours.
There have been volumes of reliable reports that US consular staff regularly
violate not only employment agreements and local labor laws but illegally hire
American teachers who violate both domestic tax laws and their visa status, in all
cases being protected by the US government claiming "diplomatic
status" for those who are clearly non-diplomats.
Then more recently we had the case of Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an
American employed at a UK consulate, who was formally charged in the death of
British teenager Harry Dunn. Sacoolas was driving her car on the wrong side of
the road, perhaps while impaired, and crashed into Dunn's motorcycle, killing
him. Sacoolas spoke later to the police, but then immediately headed for the
airport and left the UK, claiming "diplomatic immunity" when of
course she had none. However, the Americans refused to release her to return to
the UK to stand trial. (7)
(8)
In short, a foreign diplomat in the US has no immunity against
prosecution by the US government for offenses real or imagined, but US citizens
in other nations, diplomats or not, have full immunity even when clearly
engaged in illegal activities that include drunk or reckless driving,
espionage, and murder. As every US president repeatedly tells us, if the
playing field is level, America will always win.
*
Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 30 languages and his
articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in
more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms.
Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held
senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an
international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s
Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior
EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series
of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the
contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China
Sneezes’.
His full archive can be seen at https://www.moonofshanghai.com/
and http://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/
He can be contacted at: 2186604556@qq.com
Notes
(2) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26554245
(3) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/20/us-raymond-davis-lahore-cia
(4) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/21/raymond-davis-pakistan-cia-blackwater
(5) https://www.rt.com/news/us-diplomat-flees-kenya-accident-979/
(6) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/02/diplomat-kenya-car-crash/2612229/
The original source of this article is PRAVDA
Copyright © Larry Romanoff, Moon of Shanghai, Blue Moon of Shanghai, 2021
