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February 28, 2014, New York – In response to news that the Obama Administration is debating whether to authorize the killing of a U.S. citizen terrorism suspect in Pakistan, whose name, Abdullah al-Shami, was just reported, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement:
The Obama administration is reportedly divided over whether the United States has the authority to carry out the premeditated killing of another U.S. citizen terrorism suspect abroad. We know unacceptably little about the standards and circumstances at issue, but what the administration has previously stated – albeit through anonymous leaks, summary speeches and a Cliffs Notes version of new policy guidance – outlines an authority that rests on novel, aggressive, and deeply controversial interpretations of constitutional and international law. Even so, the administration continues to attempt to characterize its positions as resting on familiar, traditional principles. It is dangerous and far from accepted to claim, as the administration does, that the field of battle in its armed conflict against Al Qaeda is worldwide, that imminent threats don’t require imminence, and that the final analysis about the legality of its killings is up to the same officials that authorize and sanction those killings.
In 2012, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union filed, Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta,
a federal lawsuit against senior CIA and military officials challenging
their decisions to authorize the targeted killing of three United
States citizens, Anwar Al-Aulaqi, Abdulrahman Al-Aulaqi, and Samir Khan.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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