Raymond Allen Davis incident

rdf:langString Raymond Allen Davis incident

rdf:langString Raymond Allen Davis

rdf:langString Raymond Allen Davis

rdf:langString Wise, Virginia, U.S.

rdf:langString Pardoned and released after payment of diyya to victims' families

rdf:langString Private security contractor

rdf:langString

rdf:langString Rebecca Davis

rdf:langString divorced

rdf:langString Raymond Allen Davis is a former United States Army soldier, private security firm employee, and contractor with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). On January 27, 2011, Davis shot two men in the back, killing both, in Lahore, Pakistan. At least one of the men was armed. Immediately after the shooting, a car coming to aid Davis killed a third Pakistani man, Ibadur Rahman, in a hit and run while speeding on the wrong side of the road. In the aftermath of the incident, the U.S. government contended that Davis was protected by diplomatic immunity because of his employment with the American consulate in Lahore. However, he was jailed and criminally charged by Pakistani authorities with two counts of murder and the illegal possession of a firearm. On March 16, 2011, Davis was released after the families of the two killed men were paid US$2.4 million in diyya (a form of blood money compensation in Islamic law). Judges then acquitted him on all charges, and Davis immediately left Pakistan. The incident led to a diplomatic furor and deterioration in Pakistan–United States relations. A major focus of the incident was the U.S. government's assertion that Davis was protected under the principle of diplomatic immunity due to his role as an "administrative and technical official" attached to the American consulate in Lahore. The United States claimed that Davis was protected under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and demanded he be released from custody immediately. Barack Obama, then-President of the United States, asked Pakistan not to prosecute Davis and recognize him as a diplomat, stating, "There's a broader principle at stake that I think we have to uphold." Pakistani officials disputed the claim of immunity from a murder charge, asserting that Davis was involved in clandestine operations, and questioned the scope of his activities in Pakistan. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry stated that "this matter is sub judice ["under adjudication"] in a court of law and the legal process should be respected." Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stated that, according to official records and experts in the Foreign Office, Davis was "not a diplomat and cannot be given blanket diplomatic immunity"; Qureshi's stand on the issue allegedly led to him losing the Foreign Affairs ministerial post. The aftermath of the shooting led to widespread protests in Pakistan demanding action against Davis. Almost a month after the incident, U.S. officials revealed Davis was a contractor for the CIA after it was reported in The Guardian. According to The Telegraph, he was the acting CIA Station Chief in Pakistan. An unnamed official with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) stated that Davis had contacts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border and knew both of the men that he had shot. He stated that the ISI would investigate the possibility that the encounter on the streets of Lahore stemmed from a meeting or from threats to Davis. Some media outlets have suggested, according to anonymous sources, that data retrieved from Davis's phones and GPS device indicated that he had been to Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and some areas in the tribal belt of the country that have been the subject of U.S. drone attacks. These attacks were interrupted for several weeks after Davis's arrest before resuming on March 18, 2011, in a strike at Datta Khel.

rdf:langString Central Intelligence Agency, based at the American consulate in Lahore