Blog of Rights
Ateqah
Khaki
07/18/2012
Targeted Killings

ACLU and CCR File Lawsuit Challenging Targeted Killing of Three U.S. Citizens

By Ateqah Khaki at 11:39am

Today, the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit challenging the government’s targeted killing of three U.S. citizens in drone strikes far from any armed conflict zone. 

In Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta (Al-Awlaki v. Panetta), we charge that senior CIA and military officials violated the Constitution and international law when they authorized and directed drone strikes that resulted in the deaths of three U.S. citizens – Anwar Al-Aulaqi, Samir Khan, and 16-year-old Abdulrahman Al-Aulaqi – in Yemen last year.

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07/05/2012
Internet Free Expression

Internet Freedom is Worth Fighting For

By Ateqah Khaki at 5:02pm

The ACLU and dozens of other organizations – including Free Press and the Electronic Frontier Foundation – have teamed up to create the Declaration of Internet Freedom, which sets for a set of principles providing a positive vision to preserve the Internet as a platform for speech, innovation and creativity.

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06/19/2012
Puerto Rico

ACLU Releases New Report on Widespread Police Brutality in Puerto Rico

By Ateqah Khaki at 10:18am

The ACLU today released a report that finds the Puerto Rico Police Department -- the second-largest police department in the U.S. -- is plagued by a culture of unrestrained abuse and brutality. The use of excessive or lethal force is routine among the 17,000 officer-department. In recent years, civil and human rights violations have resulted in the unjustifiable loss of civilians’ lives, and severe and lasting injuries.

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06/13/2012
Targeted Killings

Why Targeted Killing is “Unlawful and Dangerous”

By Ateqah Khaki & Hannah Mercuris at 2:08pm

This morning, USA Today ran an op-ed by ACLU National Security Project director, Hina Shamsi about the U.S. government’s unlawful targeted killing program. She writes:

Today, our government is killing people in countries in which the United States is not at war. It reportedly adds suspected terrorists — including U.S. citizens — to "kill lists" for months at a time, which by definition cannot be limited to genuinely imminent threats. The New York Times disclosed that the government "counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants" unless intelligence proves them innocent — but only after they are dead.

When mistakes are made, our nation refuses to acknowledge them and does not compensate victims. The first Yemeni missile strike President Obama authorized, in December 2009, targeted alleged militants but killed 21 children and 14 women. WikiLeaks revealed a secret agreement by Yemen to accept responsibility for the U.S. killing. Yemenis were enraged, but most Americans probably never heard about it.

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06/06/2012
NDAA

Indefinite Detention Is Un-American

By Ateqah Khaki at 6:29pm

Today USA Today ran an editorial proclaiming “Indefinite detention is un-American.” We couldn’t agree more. The editorial states:

In the decade since the 9/11 attacks, Congress has been willing to do almost anything to ward off more terrorist strikes. It has given the government broad authority to hunt, hold and try suspected terrorists. Trouble is, the law is written so broadly that the government would have little difficulty applying it to virtually anyone.

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04/30/2012
Targeted Killings

White House Confirms Existence of Targeted Killing Program

By Ateqah Khaki at 2:59pm

Today, the New York Times ran an ACLU op-ed about the CIA's misuse of secrecy to withhold information from the public about the agency's targeted killing program, which has so far killed thousands of people, including several Americans.

The piece, penned by ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer and National Security Project Legal Fellow Nathan Wessler, explains that in ACLU lawsuits about the drone strike program the CIA has consistently taken the position that it can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the program or any records related to it, despite the fact that numerous other government officials have spoken about the program to the public and the press. The op-ed states,

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04/26/2012
CISPA

House of Representatives Passes Privacy-Busting CISPA

By Ateqah Khaki at 6:33pm

CISPA is a dangerously overbroad bill that would allow companies to share our private and sensitive information with the government without a warrant and without proper oversight.

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04/26/2012
FBI

New Call for Internal DOJ Investigation of FBI’s Targeting of Religious and Ethnic Groups for Intel Gathering

By Ateqah Khaki at 3:02pm

Today we sent a letter to the Department of Justice Inspector General asking him to investigate the FBI’s improper collection of intelligence about American Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern, and South Asian communities, and compilation of records describing community members’ First Amendment protected speech and activities in violation of the Privacy Act.

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04/04/2012
Guantánamo

9/11 Suspects To Be Tried in Broken Guantánamo Military Commissions System

By Ateqah Khaki at 1:35pm

Today, the cases of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other prisoners accused of participating in the 9/11 attacks were officially referred for trial by military commission at Guantánamo Bay. Prosecutors have 30 days to hold an arraignment, which American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony D. Romero plans to attend. In April 2011, the Obama administration reversed a 2009 decision to try the men in federal court and decided instead to try them at Guantánamo using military commissions that have been broadly criticized.

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03/23/2012
Facebook

New Examples of Facebook Password Demands, Facebook's Response, and the Need for a New Law

By Ateqah Khaki at 3:29pm

Let your members of Congress know that you want a law that would protect your private social networking information!

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