Relatives of US citizens killed in Yemen sue Pentagon, CIA

According to the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, the killings of US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki and naturalized US citizen Samir Khan were unconstitutional, Reuters reported.

A CIA drone strike killed al-Awlaki and Khan in Yemen in September 2011. In October 2011, another drone attack in Yemen left al-Awlaki's son and six other people dead.

In their lawsuit in US District Court for the District of Columbia, relatives accused Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, CIA Director David Petraeus, and two military commanders of approving and directing the strikes.



They said that the three assassinations committed by the CIA violated US legal guarantees, including the right to due process.

“There is something terribly wrong when a 16-year-old American boy can be killed by his own government without any accountability or explanation," said Pardiss Kebriaei, a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is representing the relatives, along with the American Civil Liberties Union.

The officials at the US Defense Department and the CIA who were accused in the lawsuit, refused to comment.
[link to www.presstv.ir]