Al Gillespie: Waikato University law professor on the US blowing up alleged drug trafficking boat

US forces have struck another vessel alleged to be carrying drugs, this time in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Reports claim two on board the vessel were killed and no US forces were harmed. 

Waikato University law professor Al Gillespie has voiced concerns over this incident - and claimed everyone deserves the right to a fair trial.

"The process that he's doing is wrong, everyone has a right to a fair trial and they shouldn't just be executed on an assumption that they are a drug trafficker." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now Trump's campaign of blowing the drug boats out of
the water has come a little closer to home. This time,
the military has killed two people in a drone strike
in the eastern Pacific Ocean, striking a speedboat that was
carrying drugs along a well known trafficking route. Al Gillespie
is a Whyecuttle University law professor and with us now, hey,
el hey, Heather, how do you feel about this now?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
A little bit uneasy? I think mister Trump's right to
be concerned about the way that the drugs are changing
and causing a lot of problems in America, but the
process he's doing it is wrong. Everyone has a right
to a fair trial and they shouldn't just be executed
on assumption that they are a drug trafficker.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Do you think that what he's doing is necessarily going
to work? Because I imagine it'll be enough to dissuade
the big dogs from getting on the boats themselves, but
they may just force lower level ranking people on.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I think it will be a complete failure. I think,
like the war on drugs is over one hundred years
old now, and we've got more supply demand and drug
deaths than ever before. I mean, we have to think
about different it's just trying to go hard on them
hasn't actually dented the supply or the demand. And I
think you're completely correct. Those who supply the drugs will
just change their route to come into the country.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
How accurate do you think they are when they are
identifying whether it's just an average person on a speedboat
or a drug trafficker.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
My guess is that they would be fairly accurate. But
that's not the point. Because even if you're in a
domestic country and some countries do, we have the death
penalty for trafficking drugs, you still have to give them
a trial. You still have to apprehend them and see
if they are the right person, and that the guilt
is that the penalty is proportionate to the guilt. You're
getting none of that here. You take them on their
word that they're drug traffickers, and you're thinking, therefore that

(01:40):
that penalty is appropriate, and that's just wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
What do you think would happen if they struck a
boat of completely innocent people belonging to another state that
cares about it civilians like data, Let's say Australia or
New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
There would be uproar. I mean, you only have to
consider if this that was being done by China or
by Russia, how other countries would respond the situation. And
then if you take one step further back and look
in the Philippines, they're former president as currently before the
International Criminal Court for Crimes against Humanity for the way
that he did extra judicial killings against his own people
related to the drug war. And so at the moment

(02:14):
we see it and we think, well, it's kind of entertaining,
but underneath it there's some very serious principles we need
to think about it.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, it's good to talk to you. Thank you, mate,
Al Gillespie, Wycuttle University law professor. For more from Heather
Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks. It'd be
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio