Two civil rights groups filed a court challenge Tuesday saying the US government has illegally ordered the assassination of Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Centre for Constitutional Rights said in their petition that they are not even allowed to represent Awlaki because he has been named a "specially designated global terrorist."
The US government in July said Awlaki was a key leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, placing him on its list of terrorism supporters, freezing his financial assets and banning any transactions with him. Awlaki, now based in Yemen, rose to prominence last year after it emerged he had communicated by email with Major Nidal Hasan, a US army psychiatrist accused of opening fire on colleagues at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13.