Suzanimal
06-09-2015, 05:29 AM
http://i.imgur.com/SQ0CJpX.png
The families of an anti-Al-Qaeda cleric and a police officer killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2012, have filed a lawsuit in Washington, DC, seeking an official apology and acknowledgement that innocent civilians were mistakenly killed.
Faisal Ali Jaber, an engineer, who lost a brother-in-law Salem and his nephew Waleed in a drone strike, has filed the lawsuit. He is asking the District Court to declare the attack by the unmanned aircraft unlawful. The international human rights group Reprieve is giving Ali Jaber assistance.
The plaintiffs said they are seeking to break the secrecy surrounding drones strikes and have the court impose some public accountability for the program.
“Since the awful day when I lost two of my loved ones, my family and I have been asking the US government to admit their error and say sorry. Our pleas has been ignored. No one will publicly admit that an American drone killed Salem and Waleed, even though we all know it. This is unjust,” said Ali Jaber.
Faisal’s brother-in-law Salem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber, was a cleric who had delivered an anti-Al-Qaeda speech just days before the strike. Three young men had driven to the village with the intention of trying to find Salem and asked to speak to him several times. Salem finally agreed to meet with them with Waleed as protection. As the five men talked, four Hellfire missiles killed them, as villagers watched on August 29, 2012 in eastern Yemen.
“The bodies of all five men were blown apart,” according to the complaint. “Salem and Waleed could be identified only be people who knew them well and could recognize body parts – such as distinctive hair on portions of the heads of Salem and Waleed found in the blast area.”
Salem is survived by a widow and seven children and Waleed, 26, had a wife and child.
Leaked intelligence, reported by The Intercept, indicated US official knew they had killed civilians shortly after the strike.
Faisal bin Ali Jabar received a phone call from a Yemeni security official hours after the attack informing him that Salem and Waleed were not the intended targets. In November 2013 Faisal traveled to Washington, DC, to discuss the strike with Senators and White House officials. Many offered their condolences for the deaths but they did not receive an official apology, according to Reprieve.
In 2014, Yemeni officials paid the families a total of $155,000 in compensation in cash. The families assumed the money came from the US but no explanation was forthcoming.
“If the US was willing to pay off my family in secret cash, why can’t they simply make a public acknowledgement that my relatives were wrongly killed?” said Ali Jaber in a released statement by Reprieve.
...
http://rt.com/usa/265885-yemeni-families-sue-drone-strikes/
The families of an anti-Al-Qaeda cleric and a police officer killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2012, have filed a lawsuit in Washington, DC, seeking an official apology and acknowledgement that innocent civilians were mistakenly killed.
Faisal Ali Jaber, an engineer, who lost a brother-in-law Salem and his nephew Waleed in a drone strike, has filed the lawsuit. He is asking the District Court to declare the attack by the unmanned aircraft unlawful. The international human rights group Reprieve is giving Ali Jaber assistance.
The plaintiffs said they are seeking to break the secrecy surrounding drones strikes and have the court impose some public accountability for the program.
“Since the awful day when I lost two of my loved ones, my family and I have been asking the US government to admit their error and say sorry. Our pleas has been ignored. No one will publicly admit that an American drone killed Salem and Waleed, even though we all know it. This is unjust,” said Ali Jaber.
Faisal’s brother-in-law Salem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber, was a cleric who had delivered an anti-Al-Qaeda speech just days before the strike. Three young men had driven to the village with the intention of trying to find Salem and asked to speak to him several times. Salem finally agreed to meet with them with Waleed as protection. As the five men talked, four Hellfire missiles killed them, as villagers watched on August 29, 2012 in eastern Yemen.
“The bodies of all five men were blown apart,” according to the complaint. “Salem and Waleed could be identified only be people who knew them well and could recognize body parts – such as distinctive hair on portions of the heads of Salem and Waleed found in the blast area.”
Salem is survived by a widow and seven children and Waleed, 26, had a wife and child.
Leaked intelligence, reported by The Intercept, indicated US official knew they had killed civilians shortly after the strike.
Faisal bin Ali Jabar received a phone call from a Yemeni security official hours after the attack informing him that Salem and Waleed were not the intended targets. In November 2013 Faisal traveled to Washington, DC, to discuss the strike with Senators and White House officials. Many offered their condolences for the deaths but they did not receive an official apology, according to Reprieve.
In 2014, Yemeni officials paid the families a total of $155,000 in compensation in cash. The families assumed the money came from the US but no explanation was forthcoming.
“If the US was willing to pay off my family in secret cash, why can’t they simply make a public acknowledgement that my relatives were wrongly killed?” said Ali Jaber in a released statement by Reprieve.
...
http://rt.com/usa/265885-yemeni-families-sue-drone-strikes/