Islam Times - UK FM to appear in court over govt.’s role in deadly drone strikes

Islam Times - British Foreign Secretary William Hague is to appear in court this week over the UK government’s complicity in US assassination drone strikes in Pakistan.

A Pakistani citizen, who is being supported by the London-based human rights group Reprieve and represented by solicitors Leigh Day & Co, has brought a legal case against the British government over its practice of passing over intelligence to the US for deadly drone attacks in the Asian country, which have claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians.

Noor Khan, the son of Malik Daud Khan, who died in a CIA-operated assassination drone attack in Waziristan region of Pakistan on March 17, 2011, is seeking to take legal action against the UK government due to its role in the strikes that involves exchanging intelligence with the US.

William Hague is expected to appear in court on Tuesday 23 October in order to answer questions about the role of the British intelligence services in US assassination drone attacks in Pakistan.

"He [Noor Khan] is calling for the veil of secrecy around Britain's drones’ policy to be lifted so that he can keep his community safe,” Reprieve legal director Kat Craig said.

Furthermore, Rosa Curling of Leigh Day & Co stressed that the case is seeking to challenge the legality of Britain’s intelligence sharing for lethal drone strikes.

Meanwhile, a recent study conducted by Stanford and New York Universities, found that only one in 50 people killed by US assassination drones are militants in Pakistan while the rest are innocent civilians.

Earlier this month, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik also said that only 20 percent of those killed in drone attacks were militants while the rest were innocent people.