New Delhi: Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe died Friday after being shot during a campaign speech in the city of Nara. The suspect, identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, was quoted as telling the police that he was dissatisfied with Abe.
Abe — 67 at the time of his death — was the country’s longest-serving prime minister.
In light of Abe’s assassination, ThePrint takes a look at previous instances of world leaders being shot dead in political settings around the world.
Vazgen Sargsyan
On 27 October, 1999, then prime minister of Armenia, Vazgen Sargsyan, was shot fatally by a group of gunmen who stormed the parliament in the capital city of Yerevan while he was standing at a rostrum. According to a report by The New York Times, the assassination was driven by dissatisfaction with the government.
Yitzhak Rabin
On 4 November 1995, then prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, was shot dead when he went backstage after giving a speech during a peace rally in the central plaza of Tel Aviv. The shooter, identified as Yigal Amir, was a 25-year-old Israeli Jew.
Mohamed Boudiaf
On 29 June, 1992, the president of Algeria’s ruling Supreme State Council, Mohamed Boudiaf, was shot in the back and head while he was addressing a meeting in the Mediterranean port city of Annaba. Boudiaf, aged 73, died at a hospital around three hours after the shooting. The assassin, who was wearing a riot squad trooper’s uniform, was shot dead immediately. According to a report by The New York Times, some sources believed that the assassination was the work of the Islamic Salvation Front, while others believed a “disaffected group” within the armed forces of a former ruling party were behind the attack.
Anwar Sadat
On 6 October, 1981, a group of assassins disguised as soldiers shot dead then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat while he was attending a military victory parade commemorating the Arab-Israeli war of October 1973. According to a report by NBC News, one of the founders of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group, Al-Zomor, admitted to having supplied the ammunition and known about the plot but denied action in directing it.
Wasfi Tal
Wasfi Tal was the 15th prime minister of Jordan until his assassination on 28 November, 1971, after attending an Arab League Summit. He was shot dead by four Black September gunmen, which is a Palestinian militant organisation. Tal was the first victim of this organisation which was an offshoot of the Palestinian militant organization Fatah, led by Yasser Arafat. Arafat later claimed responsibility for the killing.
Hassan Ali Mansur
The Iranian PM was shot dead by the fundamentalist group Fada’iyan-e Islam on 27 January,1965. At the time of his assassination, he was about to present his first State-of-the-Union speech at the Majlis. After he stepped out of his car, he was shot three times. He served as the PM during the White Revolution and was shot dead three days before its anniversary. He was also the founder of the Progressive Party of Tehran
John F. Kennedy
On 22 November, 1963, the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was shot dead while riding a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. The accused, Lee Harvey Oswald, was an ex-Marine who allegedly had Marxist sympathies and had defected to the Soviet Union for a while. Oswald’s trial never took place, as he was shot dead by Jack Ruby, a disgruntled Dallas nightclub owner, while he was being transferred during custody.
Liaquat Ali Khan
The first prime minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, was shot twice in his chest while addressing a gathering of 10,000 people in Rawalpindi on 16 October, 1951. Before the Partition, he had also briefly tenured as the first Indian finance minister in the interim government. Upon his death, Khan was honoured with the title of ‘Shaheed-e-Millat’ or ‘Martyr of the Nation’. The place where he was shot was later renamed Liaquat Bagh. Benazir Bhutto, the first woman PM of Pakistan, was killed in a suicide bombing at the same place, on 27 December, 2007.
Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated during a royal motorcade, while on an official visit to Bosnia on 28 June, 1914. World War 1 is said to have begun as an aftermath of his death. This was the second attempt at his assassination, the first being a grenade bomb attack that had destroyed a car behind his vehicle. The archduke and his wife were on their way to meet the injured when they were shot dead by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Prinicip.
William McKinley
William McKinley, the 25th president of the US, was shot on 6 September,1901 while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He died of an infection from the gunshot wound on 14 September. The accused, named Leon Czolgoszand, was present at the Exposition’s meet-and-greet, and shot McKinley, 58, when it was his turn in the receiving line. He was caught, arrested and found guilty at his trial, after which he was executed.
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