Reaction: US rights group seeks all facts
Drone rogramme itself is not just unlawful but dangerous, says right group.
WASHINGTON:
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has demanded that the US Justice Department release all documents pertaining to the drone programme.
Reacting to John Brennan’s statement, Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said it was ‘an unambiguous acknowledgement’ and the ‘clearest explanation’ thus far of the programme’s purported legal basis; however he was not convinced beyond that.
“Brennan supplies legal conclusions, not legal analysis. We continue to believe that the administration should release the Justice Department memos underlying the programme – particularly the memo that authorises the extrajudicial killing of American terrorism suspects. And the administration should release the evidence it relied on to conclude that an American citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, could be killed without charge, trial, or judicial process of any kind,” Jaffer said.
ACLU Director National Security Project Hina Shamsi added that the organisation continued to believe that the programme itself is not just unlawful but dangerous.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2012.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has demanded that the US Justice Department release all documents pertaining to the drone programme.
Reacting to John Brennan’s statement, Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said it was ‘an unambiguous acknowledgement’ and the ‘clearest explanation’ thus far of the programme’s purported legal basis; however he was not convinced beyond that.
“Brennan supplies legal conclusions, not legal analysis. We continue to believe that the administration should release the Justice Department memos underlying the programme – particularly the memo that authorises the extrajudicial killing of American terrorism suspects. And the administration should release the evidence it relied on to conclude that an American citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, could be killed without charge, trial, or judicial process of any kind,” Jaffer said.
ACLU Director National Security Project Hina Shamsi added that the organisation continued to believe that the programme itself is not just unlawful but dangerous.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2012.