"The president has now admitted to killing innocent Americans and Italians with drones; why are the bereaved families of innocent Yemenis less entitled to the truth," the complaint reads as quoted by Reprieve.
The lawsuit seeks official declaration that Salem and Waleed were wrongfully killed by US personnel operating a remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle, but does not seek monetary compensation.
US President Barack Obama, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former CIA Director David Petraeus, including three unnamed US individuals, are the defendants in Jaber’s case.
Jaber seeks similar acknowledgment to the one Obama made in April, when he took responsibility for the deaths of a US and Italian hostages in the CIA’s drone strike targeting al-Qaeda’s compound in Pakistan.
The United States engages in regular drone attacks in remote Middle Eastern and North African areas against suspected militants.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found that CIA drone strikes in Yemen have killed up to 673 people, including nearly 100 civilians, from 2002 to 2015.
