In June it was reported that Faisal bin Ali Jaber, whose brother-in-law and nephew were killed in 2012 by a U.S. drone strike, is seeking an admittance of wrongdoing and official apology from the U.S. government. It would appear family members are still waiting for that apology.
“If the U.S. 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?” Faisal bin Ali Jaber asks.
Common Dreams reports that the lawsuit is requesting the D.C. District Court issue a declaration that the strike that killed Jaber’s family members was unlawful. It does not ask for any sort of monetary compensation.
“Leaked intelligence… indicates that U.S. officials knew they had killed civilians shortly after the strike. In July 2014 Faisal’s family were offered a bag containing $100,000 in sequentially-marked U.S. dollar bills at a meeting with the Yemeni National Security Bureau (NSB). The NSB official who had requested the meeting told a family representative that the money came from the U.S. and that he had been asked to pass it along,” stated legal charity Reprieve, which is representing Jaber along with a pro bono law firm.
After revelations that Ramstein Air Base, located in southwest Germany but operated by the U.S. Air Force, is “crucial to facilitating American cover drone strikes in Yemen,” Jaber had originally tried to bring a constitutional claim against Germany, however it was dismissed with the option to appeal.
According to Reprieve:
In May 2015, the court ruled against us, but the judge gave us immediate leave to appeal. This is a rare move, and means that our case could be heard again within months. This is the first time that the crucial role of Ramstein in facilitating the US drone programme has been challenged in court. Without Germany – and other Western allies – the US could not fly the drones that kill innocent people.
In related news: New documents yet more evidence of UK & European role in US drone strikes
The lawsuit Jaber is bringing against the U.S. cites President Obama’s public disclosure in April that a separate American strike had inadvertently killed two Western hostages, an American and Italian. It also notes that Obama said the hostages’ “families deserve to know the truth,” and that the United States was willing “to confront squarely our imperfections and to learn from our mistakes.” Jaber is asking for this consideration.
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Fulton, Deirdre. Common Dreams. Jun 8, 2015. (http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/06/08/family-yemeni-drone-victims-seeks-nothing-more-official-apology)
Shane, Scott. The New York Times. Jun 8, 2015. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/world/middleeast/families-of-drone-strike-victims-in-yemen-file-suit-in-washington.html?_r=0)
