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A US court forced the release of a government memo yesterday outlining the justification for the use of drones to kill US terror suspects abroad.
The 41-page memo was heavily redacted, with several passages whited out.
It argued that targeted killing of US citizens was permissible under a 2001 law.
“The release of the memo will allow the public to assess the lawfulness of the targeted killing policy,” said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Jameel Jaffer.
“The public still knows scandalously little about who the government is killing and why.”
Centre for Constitutional Rights lawyer Pardiss Kebriaei said the memo showed the programme was built on “gross distortions of law.”
Ms Kebriaei estimated more than 4,000 people may have been killed by drone strikes since 2009.
“The US loosening and redefining international rules governing the use of force and war is ultimately not going to make anyone safer,” she said.
