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Israeli occupation forces injure 3 with live fire near Bethlehem

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Ma’an – September 26, 2015

BETHLEHEM – Three Palestinian youth were injured by live Israeli fire during clashes that erupted in the town of Tuqu in southeastern Bethlehem on Friday.

Locals told Ma’an that Israeli military forces arrived to the town and were deployed onto the rooftops of resident’s homes, targeting youth with bullets and tear-gas.

Clashes had erupted between the youth and Israeli forces around the town’s municipality building when Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets, injuring the three youth in the legs with live fire, locals said.

The youth received aid at the town’s medical clinic before being taken to the Beit Jala Governmental Hospital by Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances.

Their injuries were reported as moderate.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that clashes with the forces began after “about 30 rioters” started throwing rocks near the main road outside the town.

The clashes then moved inside of the town and Israeli forces responded to the youth throwing rocks with “riot dispersal means,” the spokesperson said.

348705CWhen “rioters refused to respond,” the forces fired .22 caliber rounds and confirmed three hits, the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson had no reports of Israeli soldiers entering private homes and deploying on rooftops.

Earlier Friday, the chief of police in the Nablus district and his three-year-old daughter were injured after being shot by Israeli forces with rubber-coated bullets during a raid in the village of Kafr Qaddum in Qalqiliya.

A weekly average of 39 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli forces since the start of 2015. The majority of injuries sustained by Palestinians occur during unarmed demonstrations.

Rights organizations have argued that methods of crowd control used by Israeli forces often result in excessive and sometimes fatal use of force.

September 26, 2015 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

Unprovoked, Israeli Soldiers Attack AFP Journalists in West Bank

Sputnik – 26.09.2015

While covering a demonstration in the West Bank, two journalists with Agence France-Presse were attacked by Israeli soldiers, who then proceeded to destroy their equipment.

Andrea Bernardi and Abbas Momani were near the village of Beit Furik on Friday. On assignment for AFP, the two journalists were reporting on a protest that followed the funeral of a Palestinian man shot by Israeli security forces.

In covering the events, Bernardi and Momani were themselves attacked by Israeli soldiers.

“They had passed the first checkpoint of the border police with their press cards without problem,” AFP bureau chief Thomas Cox told the Guardian. “Andrea paused to check his camera setting and as he was doing so a soldier immediately arrived and told him to stop filming and pushed his camera.”

“He then took the camera and smashed it.”

Video of the incident shows the journalists walking away, only to be chased down by another soldier who destroys more of the pair’s equipment.

According to Cox, Bernardi later went back to recover his camera, and things escalated from there.

“At this point a soldier jumped on him and put a pistol on his face and attacked him.”

“It was crazy,” Bernardi told the Guardian. “When we arrived at the border police checkpoint we showed our documents. There was no problem. They were being nice.”

“We passed the first line of soldiers loading teargas. I heard screaming and a soldier started pushing and shouting ‘what the f*ck are you doing’ in English. I then [realized] he was loading this gun and I thought ‘what the…’ and we started walking back.”

Bernardi notes that if either he or Momani had been guilty of some crime that they would have been arrested, but that never happened.

“After we got back to the car I saw a piece of the camera and wanted to take a picture of it because I was worried they would accuse me of doing something wrong,” he said. “That’s when a soldier pointed a pistol in my face and pulled me down.”

AFP has announced its intention to file a formal complaint. … Full article

September 26, 2015 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Subjugation - Torture, Video | , , , , | Leave a comment

US Spies Await Terrorist Attack to Change Public’s Tune About Cyber Privacy

Sputnik – 26.09.2015

As the United States seeks backdoor encryption access, it faces strong pushback in the form of public opinion. But according to some intelligence officials, that perception could change if another terrorist attack were to occur on American soil.

Faced with a public outcry over privacy concerns and the tarnished reputation of American tech companies abroad, the Obama administration has found itself in a difficult spot. Many industry leaders are calling for the president to publicly disavow the idea of a law requiring tech companies to provide backdoor encryption access.

Intelligence officials, of course, are none-too-thrilled about such a move. Insistent on the notion that encryption access is vital for national security, many are eager for a law requiring companies like Apple to cooperate.

“Overall, the benefits to privacy, civil liberties and cybersecurity gained from encryption outweigh the broader risks that would have been created by weakening encryption,” reads the latest report from the US National Security Council.

But if public opinion remains a stubborn roadblock for such legislation, some officials have indicated that a terrorist attack could change the situation.

“… The legislative environment is very hostile today,” Robert S. Litt, a lawyer for the intelligence community, said in an email obtained by the Washington Post. “[But] it could turn in the event of a terrorist attack or criminal event where strong encryption can be shown to have hindered law enforcement.”

Litt isn’t the only one.

“People are still not persuaded this is a problem,” a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Post. “People think we have not made the case. We do not have the perfect example where you have the dead child or a terrorist act to point to, and that’s what people seem to claim you have to have.”

While the US intelligence community seems to believe that a terrorist attack would prove the need for robust encryption, it’s already been proven that mass surveillance has done little to thwart such incidents. The National Security Agency’s data collection – unveiled by whistleblower Edward Snowden – was launched after the September 11 attacks, but failed to prevent future bombings, like that which occurred during the Boston Marathon in 2013.

A White House review panel formed two years ago recommended ending the domestic spying program after findings that the NSA’s bulk collection of telephone metadata had done nothing for national security.

Even if the Obama administration decides to publicly disavow encryption legislation, there’s no guarantee that the US government wouldn’t still carry forward with decryption plans. On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the administration was looking into four distinct ways to force tech companies into compliance.

“We’re not promoting those as the way to go,” said another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity. “We’re just saying these are things that could be done.”

September 25, 2015 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , | Leave a comment

Argentina to Investigate Former Dictatorship’s Economic Ties

teleSUR | September 24, 2015

Argentina’s Parliament approved Wednesday by a wide majority the launch of an investigation into economic complicity by civilians during the country’s last military dictatorship.

The aim of the investigation is to determine how businesses and people participated in the crimes committed by the dictatorship, which disappeared thousands of people.

The bill passed with 170 votes against 14. The main party opposing the bill so far has been the Republican Proposal party (PRO), who’s presidential hopeful Mauricio Macri – currently the Mayor of Buenos Aires – is the leading opposition candidate, trailing behind the government party’s candidate Daniel Scioli.

The bill will now have to be approved by the Senate, which is largely dominated by the governing Front for Victory, which backs the proposal.

Once approved, a Congressional Commission of Truth, Memory, Justice, Reparation and Strengthening of Democratic Institutions will be created, which will have judicial powers to investigate and charge individuals.

According to the text of the bill, the investigations will target people who cooperated with or who benefited from their ties to the dictatorship.

The lawmakers that voted against the bill did not provide any explanation for their decision.

Apart from determining individual responsibilities, the Congressional commission would have to publish a report at the end of its investigations which would explain the economic consequences of the dictatorship and how State-sponsored terrorism helped particular businesses.

PRO’s negative vote could be linked to its repercussions on Argentina’s two main newspapers, El Clarin and La Nacion. Both have been repeatedly singled out for their ties to the military dictatorship, with which they created a paper-import company Papel Prensa S.A.

Through their joint venture with the dictatorship, the newspapers would have obtained preferential prices on paper fees and would have manipulated the market to drive competitors out.

September 25, 2015 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Timeless or most popular | , , | Leave a comment

Once again, Israeli forces prevent Palestinians’ freedom of religion

International Solidarity Movement | September 25, 2015

Hebron, occupied Palestine – Today, Israeli forces stopped, searched and harassed Palestinians on their way to Ibrahimi mosque and in the vicinity on the second day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha for Friday prayers in Al-Khalil (Hebron).

Crowds of worshippers were flocking to the mosque around noon. Before being allowed into the mosque they have to pass through metal detectors manned with Israeli forces. Even though the majority of the people passed from the Palestinian market and through a checkpoint already, only a few meters afterwards they are forced to pass through yet another checkpoint. Small children, boys and girls clung to the hands of their parents when passing through the checkpoint.

In total, 27 young adults were stopped and ID-checked on their way to Friday prayer, and forced to leave their ID with the Israeli forces before being allowed to enter into the mosque. Another two were detained for about fifteen minutes before finally being allowed to pass. All IDs had to be collected at the end of the prayer from the same soldier, delaying Palestinians on their way back home for yet another five to ten minutes during which soldiers where trying to find the right ID for each person.

Five teenagers were bluntly refused access to the mosque, denying them their right to exercise their religion. Whereas three of the boys left, two of them after being yelled at and pushed by an Israeli soldiers; two other teenagers were forced to perform their Friday prayer outside the mosque in the street.

One man, just passing on the street next to the checkpoint, talking to a friend entering to the mosque, was confronted by soldiers. One soldier ran towards him from the checkpoint, demanding him to stop and questioning him about the content of his bag. The man was forced to immediately open his bag, containing meat for lunch with his family, all while soldiers were shouting at him. They then forced him to pull up his shirt and trousers. Bystanders were watching anxiously, as only three days ago, the murder of 18-year old Hadeel Saleh Hashlamoun at another checkpoint in Al-Khalil shocked the community.

During the Jewish holidays this past month, many restrictions have been imposed on Palestinians living close to the Ibrahimi mosque. On several days, the checkpoint leading to the mosque was kept completely closed the whole day, denying entry to Palestinians and preventing them from free movement. With the Jewish holiday of Sukkot starting this Sunday, many more restrictions on Palestinian movement are expected.

September 25, 2015 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Arming Drones With Lasers to Increase Danger of Human Rights Abuses

Sputnik – 25.09.2015

WASHINGTON – Proposals to attach a high-energy laser on the Avenger, or Predator-C, drone will give the US armed forces and its contractors a cost-effective weapon to carry out widespread assassinations and intimidate domestic critics, experts told Sputnik.

“Arming drones with lasers is likely to increase the use of drones for harassment of individuals and populations in attacks that cause burning and terror but fall short of killing,” KnowDrones.com Coordinator Nick Mottern told Sputnik on Thursday. “Woundings are likely to increase, and assassinations may well increase.”

Mottern warned that laser drones would offer military forces and their private contractors a cheaper and more convenient means of conducting assassinations on a broad scale.

“Laser attacks may be less expensive in dollar terms than missile attacks, which also may bring an increase in injury and killing,” he said. “Casualties of all kinds are likely to increase. The advantage is only to weapons makers.”

Upstate Drone Action activist Ed Kinane told Sputnik that arming drones with lasers would make an already reprehensible weapon even more contemptible.

“Weaponized drones are vile; arming them with lasers is even viler,” he told Sputnik. “Corporations, like General Atomics, trying to develop such high-tech killing devices, should have their charters revoked; their executive officers and chief engineers should be prosecuted for being the intellectual authors of assassination and terrorism.”

Kinane argued that US Department of Defense officials working with mercenary contractors were likewise criminals and should be indicted.

“Like nuclear weapons, weaponized drones are instruments of terror, but also of diplomatic blackmail,” the activist warned, “Leaders of nations, when negotiating with the US, can’t help but know that they are doing so with a gun at their heads.”

Kinane warned that drones armed with lasers were weapons designed not for defense, but for global hegemony and that they would eventually be used to threaten and coerce American citizens too.

“Soon the people of the US will come under threat … from such high-tech weapon development,” he predicted. “These weapons may primarily be used to defend, not the nation, but the status quo power structure of the nation.”

Kinane also predicted that the new weapons would be used to intimidate and threaten domestic critics of US policies.

“They will surely be used domestically to intimidate and quell dissent, making a shambles of the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and petitioning the government for the redress of grievances,” he stated.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) the San Diego-based company that makes the Predator and Reaper drones, is undertaking a privately funded study to integrate a 150-kilowatt solid-state laser onto its Avenger (née Predator-C) drone.

If the company succeeds, a drone with a high-energy laser will be a reality at some point in 2017, company executives told DefenseOne.

September 25, 2015 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Subjugation - Torture | , , | Leave a comment

Nablus police chief, 3-year-old daughter injured by Israeli fire

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Three-year-old Maram Abed al-Latif al-Qaddumi was shot in the head by Israeli forces with a rubber bullet in the occupied West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum.
(MaanImages/Murad Ishteiwi)
Ma’an – September 25, 2015

NABLUS – The chief of police in the Nablus district and his three-year-old daughter were injured after being shot by Israeli forces with rubber-coated bullets on Friday during a raid in the village of Kafr Qaddum in Qalqiliya.

A Fatah leader in Kafr Qaddum, Murad Ishteiwi, told Ma’an that Israeli forces directly shot at three-year-old Maram Abed al-Latif al-Qaddumi, injuring her with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the head while she was standing on a balcony in her home.

Isheiwi added that when her father, Colonel Abd al-Latif al-Qaddumi, attempted to aid her and take her to the hospital in his car, Israeli forces opened fire, injuring him in the head.

They were both taken to the Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus where their injuries were reported as moderate. Both are currently in a stable condition.

Ishteiwi said that Israeli forces had raided the area and set up several ambushes inside of the town in an attempt to prevent the weekly Kafr Qaddum march.

An Israeli army spokesperson didn’t have any immediate information but told Ma’an they were looking into the incident.

On Sept. 11, Israeli military forces raided the house of al-Qaddumi, and turned his home into a military outpost after evicting his wife and children.

Days earlier, Israeli forces held al-Qaddumi for more than an hour near the entrance of Hijja village west of Nablus.

Last week Israeli forces shot and injured a 14-year-old with live fire in Kafr Qaddum during a demonstration.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that there was a “riot” in Kafr Qaddum, where protesters threw rocks and rolled burning tires at Israeli forces, who opened fire “using .22 caliber rounds towards the extremities of the main instigator and a hit was confirmed.”

A weekly average of 39 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli forces since the start of 2015. The majority of injuries sustained by Palestinians occur during unarmed demonstrations.

Rights organizations have argued that methods of crowd control used by Israeli forces often result in excessive, and sometimes fatal, use of force.

Residents of Kafr Qaddum carry out weekly demonstrations in protest of the now 13-year closure of the main street out of the village, which leads to nearby Nablus — the area’s economic hub.

Kafr Qaddum has also lost large swathes of its land to Israeli settlements, outposts and the separation wall, all illegal under international law.

September 25, 2015 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

U.S. Doublespeak on Palestine

By Robert Fantina | CounterPunch | September 25, 2015

As Palestinians continue to endure unspeakable suffering at the hands of Israelis, there are some old bromides that are constantly being hurled at an unsuspecting public by elected U.S. officials, in order to justify U.S. financing of that suffering. Let us look at just a few:

Israel has the right to defend itself. This writer cannot count the number of times this ridiculous statement has been made. Can we all just take a minute to investigate it? Israel, we are told, has the right to use the most advanced weaponry available on the planet, some of it banned by international law, to ‘defend’ itself against an occupied, rock-throwing population. Yes, occasionally Palestinians are able to smuggle in enough supplies to make ‘rockets’ that author Norman Finkelstein, son of Holocaust survivors and an outspoken critic of Israel, refers to as ‘enhanced fireworks’. In the minds of the Israeli-lobby-controlled U.S. government, those fireworks are sufficient to justify the carpet-bombing of homes, mosques, hospitals and schools. Need we mention, again, that bombing these sites is a violation of international law? Oh, and let’s not forget that the U.S. finances it all.

President Obama, in 2008, made this amazing statement: “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.” If someone, heavily armed, was stopping his daughters on their way to school every morning to search their backpacks, would he do everything in his power to stop that? If the First Lady was constantly spat upon when going to the local store, would he stop that? If one or both of his daughters were at risk of being shot at point-blank range and left dying in the street, would there be any limits to his efforts to stop that? Or if representatives of a foreign nation showed up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with bulldozers and began razing the White House, claiming that it was sitting on land that God promised to them, would he stop it? If his daughters were arrested for throwing stones at someone who had bulldozed their house, would he prevent that? This writer would love to hear Mr. Obama say this: ‘If somebody was brutally oppressing my loved ones, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. I would expect Palestinians to do the same thing.”

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. It isn’t surprising to hear U.S. politicians say this, since most of them have only the vaguest concept of what ‘democracy’ means, never having experienced it, but hearing about it once or twice in some high school civics class. It seems that, in their view, if a nation holds elections, it is a democracy. Never mind that there are separate laws for Africans and Arabs living within Israel’s borders. Forget about the fact that Palestinian men, women and children can be arrested and held indefinitely, without charge or contact with legal representation, or even family members. Don’t bother even considering the fact that, in the Israel-occupied West Bank, there are separate, and far inferior, roads for Palestinians, and that they are not allowed to drive on, or even cross over, the superior Israeli roads. But hey! They have elections! Therefore, Israel is a democracy!

Israel is the U.S.’s only friend in the Middle East. This one is almost too much for this writer to bear; it is all he can to do keep from screaming every time he hears it. Israel continually slaps the U.S. in the face, refusing to halt illegal settlement activity; demanding that the U.S. protect it from United Nations criticism; committing the kinds of human rights abuses that cause the U.S. to bomb other nations, all the while receiving $10 million dollars a day from the U.S. This doesn’t sound like friendship; it sounds like services bought and paid for by the various Israeli lobbies.

What, one wonders, does the U.S. get from this one-sided ‘friendship’? Other nations in the Middle East despise the U.S., at least partly because of its financing of the oppression of the Palestinians (constantly bombing them doesn’t help much, either). Perhaps, just perhaps, the U.S. might have some real allies in the Middle East if it stopped funding ongoing genocide.

What, one further wonders, is in store for Israel after a new U.S. president is inaugurated in January of 2017? Mr. Obama is said to detest Israeli Prime Murderer Benjamin Netanyahu, yet he jumps through whatever hoops the Prime Murderer puts in front of him, like an obedient dog performing at a circus. All of the major party candidates seeking the U.S. presidency fawn all over Mr. Netanyahu as if he were some international hero, and not a mass murderer.

Although the struggle of the Palestinian people has lasted since 1948, let us look at the death toll for them, and the Israelis, just in the current millennium. Approximately 1,200 Israelis have died in this conflict (this writer does not call it a war; it is genocide, pure and simple), including about 130 children. In that same time period, at least 9,150 Palestinians have been killed, and this number includes over 1,500 children.

So one might ask Mr. Obama how he feels about Israel preventing the firing of ineffective rockets by the use of mass murder. What would he say to the parents of those 1,500 children, slaughtered in their homes or schools, with bombs he provided?

The U.S. was one of the last nations in the world to condemn South African apartheid; never a leader in the fight for freedom, or in assisting oppressed people to gain their basic human rights, the U.S. will again follow in Palestine. Israel will either implode from the weight of its own internal and external oppression, or will find itself so ostracized by the world community that even the mighty U.S. can’t save it from itself. In time, the people of Palestine will experience the freedom that the U.S. pays cheap lip service to, but does not practice. They will live on their ancestral lands, despite all the opposition from the United States. The day of their liberation cannot come soon enough, but it is coming.

Robert Fantina’s latest book is Empire, Racism and Genocide: a History of US Foreign Policy (Red Pill Press).

September 25, 2015 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Progressive Hypocrite, Timeless or most popular | , , , , , | Leave a comment

US must release files proving innocence of former Guantanamo detainee, say lawyers

Reprieve | September 25, 2015

Lawyers at human rights NGO Reprieve yesterday filed an emergency motion demanding the US government release information which could exonerate a former Guantanamo detainee facing the possibility of charges in Morocco.

Younous Chekkouri, 47, was transferred to his native Morocco last week. He has been detained ever since and the prosecution in Morocco announced on Wednesday that he is now facing the possibility of charges of ‘attempting to disrupt the internal security of the country.’

It is believed that these charges are based on allegations made years ago by the US – almost every one of which was dropped during Younous’ habeas corpus proceedings in federal court. Yet almost all the files from the case remain held under seal by a Washington D.C. court. Without the files being released, Younous’ lawyers will not be able to defend him against the possible Moroccan charges.

Reprieve first began asking the U.S. government to release the files in 2009, and in 2011 presented a “priority list” of thirteen documents. In the nearly four years since, the government has released only one of the requested files. In the rules governing Guantanamo proceedings, the US is obliged to produce public versions of all filings. The emergency motion filed yesterday demands that the government make available all remaining information by October 1st.

The US government cleared Younous for release from Guantanamo in 2010, a process involving unanimous agreement by six US federal agencies – including the CIA, FBI, and Departments of State and Defense – that he poses no threat to the US or anyone else.

Cori Crider, attorney for Younous and a director at human rights NGO Reprieve, said: “The Americans’ spurious allegations against Younous have already collapsed once when examined in US federal court and it is entirely unfair for him to face any further charges. Yet Younous is now living a Groundhog Day from hell where he may face yet more years of wrongful imprisonment because the US has failed to release information that I could use, this time in a Moroccan court, to prove his innocence yet again. So we are now forced to fight tooth and nail for information that should have been released years ago.”

September 25, 2015 Posted by | Deception, False Flag Terrorism | , , , | Leave a comment

Washington State Cops Who Killed Unarmed Mexican Man Return to Work

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© Family Photo
Sputnik | 24.09.2015

In February, the Pasco police made global headlines after three officers were caught on camera firing 17 bullets at an unarmed man in the back as he ran away from them with his hands in the air.

Now, after the officers received seven months of paid administrative leave for the shooting of Mexican national Antonio Zambrano-Montes, who was 35, they have been cleared of any wrongdoing. Two of the officers will be reportedly returning to work effective “immediately,” while the third, Ryan Flanagan, has parted ways with the department for unknown reasons.

The incident took place on February 10, when police were called to an intersection because of a man allegedly throwing rocks at vehicles. The department claims that Zambrano-Montes, who has a history of mental illness, ran after hitting two of the officers with rocks, Fusion reported.

Zambrano-Montes was the fourth person killed by officers in the department in less than a year.

A video of the incident, filmed by Dario Infante Zuniga, 21, went massively viral, collecting over 1,600,000 views within nine days. It has now been viewed over two million times.

Approximately one week after the shooting, the Pasco Police Department announced that they had launched a “full investigation into their victim” — instead of the officers who shot him.

Ken Lattin, a spokesperson for the Kennewick Police Department, stated in February that he was trying to piece together what Zambrano-Montes was doing “hours, days, and weeks leading up to this incident.”

“It’s curious that when you ask them about the past of some of the officers, they say that information is not pertinent to the investigation,” Felix Vargas, chair of Consejo Latino, a local organization of Hispanic-owned businesses, said after a briefing, Fusion reported.

“But somehow what Zambrano was doing weeks before this incident is vital information.”

While activists and commentators have expressed remorse, anger, and sadness over the lack of charges and the officers returning to their duties, many have noted that it was to be expected, as the cops were never really the ones under investigation.

September 24, 2015 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Subjugation - Torture, Video | , | Leave a comment

Captured Prisoners: The Whole Story

If Americans Knew

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

September 24, 2015 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, Video | , , , | Leave a comment

Syria drone strikes: ‘Pre-authorized targeted killings’ face legal challenge

RT | September 24, 2015

Legal action will be brought against Prime Minister David Cameron after he revealed an RAF drone was used to kill two British militants fighting for Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Syria. The attack went ahead despite parliament voting against strikes in 2013.

The Prime Minister disclosed the nature of the strikes in September, claiming they had been carried out as an “act of self-defense” and that he had sought parliament’s permission to kill the militants.

Reyaad Khan and Rahul Amin both died, along with another jihadist, who was not of British origin.

Now Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Baroness Jones are working with human rights charity Reprieve to make the first steps toward a judicial review.

A pre-action letter to the Attorney General and the Defense Secretary states the government failed to publish its “targeted killing policy” which is in breach of international law.

“The Raqqa strike, and the intention of the government to pre-authorize targeted killings in the future in countries where the UK is not at war, is of concern to the claimants and many others,” they wrote.

“The concern is heightened by the lack of clarity about the circumstances in which the government reserves the right to kill British citizens outside of an armed conflict.”

The letter claims the way the government rationalized the attack has raised further questions about the legality of its military operations overseas.

It says the government claims the attack was justified due to “potential,” “direct,” “likely” or “imminent” threats to the UK.

“Such a lack of clarity as to the test which is being applied by the government in deciding whether to pre-authorize the targeted killing of British nationals or individuals overseas raises real and serious concerns over the lawfulness of the government’s past and expected resort to the use of lethal force,” it says.

“It is unclear what, if any, policies, procedures and/or safeguards are in place to ensure that this ‘new departure’ is only exercised in accordance with domestic and international law.”

The UK is currently taking part in US-led coalition airstrikes in Iraq against IS, but not in Syria.

However, the killing of Khan was justified, Cameron said, because he had been plotting “barbaric” attacks in Britain.

Cameron is expected to stage a second vote in the House of Commons to approve further action in the country, but will not do so until he is sure of victory after his embarrassing 2013 defeat.

September 24, 2015 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Subjugation - Torture | , | Leave a comment

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