Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 02-04-2017
UK based advocacy group CAGE has called for the name of an American journalist to be immediately removed from a US “kill list”.
In a statement CAGE says it supports legal efforts Bilal Abdul Kareem to draw public attention to the recent assertion that he is on the US ‘kill list’ for drone strikes in Syria.
Kareem is a journalist whose exclusive reporting is aired on YouTube as part of the well-known channel On the Ground News.
His work has also been used internationally and accredited by CNN, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 News.
Kareem and his team have narrowly missed several attempts on their lives, having had both their car and media offices targeted by drones and airstrikes.
Kareem told CAGE the US government fears the truths that have been revealing about their “war on terror” in Syria.
“They fear that the American people are starting to hear that the drone program that has killed so many innocent people creates more enemies than the government could ever fight. They are afraid that people are going to see the reality that not every Islamic fighter is planning an attack on Americans. This is why they want me dead.”
Cage Outreach Director Moazzam Begg says Kareem provides valuable insight into the conflict in Syria, being one of the only accredited journalists there reporting in English from the ground.
“The killing of an American journalist in the course of his work by its own government would be an unprecedented act in the War on Terror. It would send a deplorable message about the state of independent reporting in the US, which would resonate across nations.”
CAGE says they want Kareem’s name to be removed from all ‘kill lists’ with immediate effect in keeping with the rule of law, countries which provide launch-pads for extra-judicial killings risk being complicit in illegal assassinations.
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