WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. judge in Washington Tuesday dismissed a challenge to a purported U.S. plan to assassinate a Yemeni cleric with dual Yemeni-U.S. citizenship.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional rights had filed a lawsuit asking the judge to rule the U.S. Constitution and international law forbid the U.S. government from using targeted killings outside of armed conflicts, except to head off imminent threats of death.
The suit was filed on behalf of the father of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim cleric. U.S. officials have said Awlaki is a leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Born in New Mexico and believed to be hiding in Yemen since 2004, Awlaki has been linked to Maj. Nidal Hasan, the U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of massacring 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009; the attempted Christmas bombing last year of an airliner headed for Detroit, foiled when bomb materials under the suspect's clothes caught fire; a Times Square car bombing attempt, and plastic explosives found on two cargo planes bound for the United States from Yemen in October.
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates granted a motion by the U.S. Justice Department for dismissal, saying Awlaki's father and the human rights groups did not have the standing to bring the suit, Fox News reported.
He did not rule on the constitutionality of the purported assassination policy. U.S. officials did not concede during an earlier hearing that Awlaki had been targeted for assassination.
There was no immediate word on whether there would be an appeal.
