US drone strikes in Pakistan have killed hundreds of civilians since 2004.
A Pakistani school teacher, who lost his family members in a US drone attack last year, will testify before US Congress along with his children on how US drone attacks in their country are taking the lives of innocent civilians.
A US drone missile struck near Rafiq ur Rehman’s house last October, killing his 67-year-old mother and injuring his three children.
On Tuesday, Rehman and two of his children are to participate in a congressional briefing called by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Florida).
“As an educator,” Rehman told Firedoglake, “my job is to educate so I have come here to hopefully make American citizens as well as the US government aware that drones are, in fact, hurting innocent individuals like it killed my mother. It has injured my children. It is causing disruption in the lives of innocents.”
The congressional briefing was originally scheduled for September; however, the US Department of State refused to issue a visa for Shahzad Akbar, the attorney of Pakistani victims of US drone attacks including the family of Rehman.
Earlier this month, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a joint report that US officials could be found guilty of war crimes for the secret CIA drone attacks which have killed hundreds of civilians in Yemen and Pakistan.
However, the administration of US President Barack Obama said Washington “would strongly disagree” with the report, claiming the US actions are legal.
Moreover, two UN human rights investigators, Ben Emmerson and Christof Heyns, criticized last week the secrecy around Washington’s drone attacks in countries like Pakistan and Yemen and called for more transparency from the US.
ISH/ARA
Source: Press TV