Experts want drones grounded

The exhibition, entitled Gaming in Waziristan, is the first large-scale publication of photographs of the victims of drone attacks.

The photographs are the work of Noor Behram, a photographer from the North Waziristan Agency (NWA). 

Noor started covering the violence in Pakistan's Waziristan and FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) for al-Jazeera in 2007.

The exhibition is part of a broader project by Reprieve calling for greater transparency over the use of drones in Pakistan and elsewhere.

As part of that work Reprieve, in conjunction with Mr Akbar, filed a First Information Report in Islamabad calling for a warrant for the arrest of John A Rizzo, former acting chief counsel to the CIA.

Mr Rizzo has publicly boasted of his role in sanctioning the use of drones. 

Mr Akbar said: "This policy is simply further radicalising an unstable region. People living in countries supporting this war with their tax money need to ask questions from their governments if their money is being spent on such gruesome murders of women and children."

Reprieve's director Clive Stafford Smith added: "I hate to expose the world to pictures of a child with his head blown half off, but this is what the CIA calls 'collateral' damage.

"In a country that is not at war with America, everyone else calls it murder, and the drone attacks are causing vastly more harm than good."

Gaming in Waziristan opens tomorrow at Beaconsfield, Newport Street, London SE11 6AY, and runs from 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday until August 5.

paddym@peoples-press.com