National — After months of pressure from
human rights activists, the U.S. government has
granted Pakistani lawyer Shahzad Akbar a visa
to attend and speak at an International Drone
Summit in Washington DC on April 28, 2012.
The Summit is organized by the peace group CODEPINK
and the legal advocacy organizations Reprieve
and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Akbar,
co-founder of the Pakistani human rights organization
Foundation for Fundamental Rights, has been waiting
for almost a year for a visa. He filed the first
case in Pakistan on behalf of family members of
civilian victims of CIA drone strikes and has
been a critical force in litigating and advocating
on victims' behalf.
“I am glad that better sense prevailed and
the State Department is finally letting me into
the country after 14 months of delay and tireless
efforts by the Summit organizers,” Akbar
said. “I will be speaking to American people
about the loss of so many innocent Pakistani lives
in their name. I believe the American people are
good people and will want to do something to stop
this unjust, counterproductive war that violates
all norms of international law and human rights.”
The International Drone Summit is bringing together
human rights advocates, robotics technology experts,
lawyers, journalists and activists in an effort
inform the American public about the widespread
and rapidly expanding deployment of both lethal
and surveillance drones, including drone use in
the United States. The Summit is setting the stage
for an international campaign to regulate drone
use.
“We're dragging this secretive drone
program out of the shadows and into the light
of day,” said Medea Benjamin, one of the
Summit organizers and author of the new book Drone
Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. “It's
time for the American public to know the true
extent, and consequences, of the killing and spying
being done in our name.”
Speakers at the Summit include Pakistani Member
of Parliament Amna Buttar; Clive Stafford Smith,
UK-based attorney who works with drone victims;
Hina Shamsi, ACLU national security expert; David
Glazier, a professor of law who served 21 years
as a US Navy surface warfare officer; award-winning
journalist Jeremy Scahill; Chris Woods, a senior
reporter with The
Bureau of Investigative Journalism who exposed
CIA drone attacks on rescuers and funeral- goers
in Pakistan; Trevor Timm, an activist with the
Electronic Frontier Foundation; and members of
the International Committee for Robot Arms Control.
The organizers are holding a press conference
on Thursday, April 26 at 12:30pm in the Zenger
Room at the National Press Club (529 14th Street
NW, Washington, DC 20045).
For more information or to arrange an interview
with any of the organizers or speakers, contact
Ramah Kudaimi at rkudaimi@gmail.com or 708-822-5880.
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