by ANNA DOBLE
A lawyer acting for victims of US drone strikes in Pakistan is preparing fresh legal action against the CIA and tells Channel 4 News Osama bin Laden’s death strengthens the case against the attacks.
Mirza Shahzad Akbar plans to represent 25 families over the deaths of more than 50 people, killed in bombing raids by unmanned US drones in Pakistan’s Waziristan region, which borders Afghanistan.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the legal action charity Reprieve, the lawyer insisted these people “had nothing to do with the war on terror” and dismissed claims that Pakistan had “authorised” the airstrikes as “the lamest thing I’ve heard in my life”. His aim is to bring the cases before courts in the UK or US.
He added: “How could a country be authorised to allow the deaths of its own people?
“These drone strikes are not covered by any instrument of war. There is no such international legal instrument, no US authority.”
Clive Stafford-Smith, Reprieve’s founder, described the human rights concerns surrounding Pakistan drone attacks as “the next Guantanamo”. Mr Stafford-Smith has campaigned for many years on behalf of prisoners held at the US terror detention camp in Cuba.
It is estimated as many as 2,283 people have been killed by US drones in Pakistan since 2004. Of these, only 33 were said to be “high value targets” (HVTs).
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