Former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner, Mary Robinson has expressed her unease over the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US forces over the weekend.

Speaking to to the BBC's "Sunday Sequence" the  former Irish president said "We still probably don’t know the full truth, but it does appear that Osama Bin Laden was unarmed when the attack was made”.

She added “In those circumstances, it would have been appropriate that he would be arrested and brought to justice. That’s what happens to perpetrators even of egregious crimes.

 “And I share an uncomfortable sense with the Archbishop of Canterbury. I would have preferred, if somebody is unarmed and can be captured and can be taken into custody, to be brought to justice. A great democracy would do that. It would have been appropriate that he would have been . . . brought to justice.”

She was referring to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who expressed his own concerns last week. He said "I think that the killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling because it doesn’t look as if justice is seen to be done in those circumstances.”

Mary Robinson recently returned from a three-day mission to North Korea as part of The Elders, a group of retired world leaders joined together by Nelson Mandela. Ms Robinson was travelling with former US president Jimmy Carter, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari and ex-Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The visit was aimed at easing tensions with South Korea and pushing nuclear disarmament.

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