Reprieve calls for CIA lawyer to be arrested

The pilotless aircraft have been linked to the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The US claims that the vast majority of those killed were "militants" but relatives and campaigners dispute this.

Legal action charity Reprieve is seeking an international arrest warrant for John Rizzo, who until recently acted as general counsel for the CIA.

He is also deeply involved in the approval of the use of "enhanced interrogation tchniques" during the so-called war on terror.

Reprieve is working with lawyers in Pakistan who are also building cases against a number of people including drone operators.

A first information report, the first step in launching a prosecution in Pakistan, is expected to be lodged in Islamabad this week on behalf of the relatives of two people killed in drone strikes in 2009.

The bid follows an interview given to Newsweek by Mr Rizzo that since 2004 he had approved one drone attack order a month on targets in Pakistan despite the fact the US is not at war with the country.

Quoted in the Guardian this weekend, Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said: "The issue here is that this is not a war. There is zero chance given the current political climate in Pakistan that we will not get a warrant for Rizzo.

"The question is what happens next. We can try for extradition and the US will refuse.

"Interpol, I believe, will have to issue a warrant because there is no question that it is a legitimate complaint."

paddym@peoples-press.com