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Journalists allege threat of drone execution by US

Al Jazeera

Washington DC - Two journalists who say they have been targeted by the United States have filed a complaint against the American government, accusing it of putting them on a "kill list" and demanding to be taken off it. The complaint was filed in the US District Court of the District of Columbia on Thursday on behalf of Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan - a dual Pakistani-Syrian citizen who works for Al Jazeera and Bilal Abdul Kareem, an American who has freelanced for Al Jazeera. It accuses the US government of using information gathered via its Skynet surveillance programme, which has been used to guide drone strikes on "terror suspects". The plaintiffs accuse the United States of conspiracy to commit murder outside its borders and violating international law on targeting civilians. Filed by UK-based rights group Reprieve and the Washington DC-based law firm Lewis Baach, the complaint asks the court to declare the journalists' inclusion on the list illegal, and issue an injunction removing their names until they can review the secret evidence against them.