Bilal Abdul Kareem is an American journalist and war correspondent covering the Syrian Civil War who has worked with CNN. He believes that he has been placed on the US kill list. He claims to have survived five drone assassination attempts by the US military, which killed random civilians that were present nearby, including two attacks on vehicles he was traveling in, including one where the car he was sitting in was blown up by a missile shot from a drone. He has been criticized by some observers for a perceived alignment with jihadi fighters in Syria, with The New York Times reporting that Kareem was considered a "jihadist propagandist" to some. RT criticized his reported "praise" of Malhama Tactical, a 'private military contractor' which trains militant groups.
In 2017, he filed a lawsuit against the United States government in the District of Columbia, claiming they had attempted to assassinate him, and requesting his removal from the Disposition Matrix, usually referred to as the "kill list". Another journalist, Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan, who is suspected of also being placed on the American kill list, co-sued with him. In June 2018, government lawyers asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit claiming Bilal could not provide proof he was being targeted as he could not substantiate his claims given the secrecy surrounding targeting decisions and that the government had complete authority in military operations outside of the United States. US District Judge Rosemary Collyer rejected the government request to dismiss the lawsuit and in the opinion paper wrote: “Due process is not merely an old and dusty procedural obligation.. . . It is a living, breathing concept that protects US persons from overreaching government action even, perhaps, on an occasion of war.” The judge also ruled that Bilal cannot challenge the laws that allows the US government to put someone on the "kill list" or target those on it, but as an American citizen he has the right to due process before being added and to know whether his speech as a reporter is protected by the first amendment or not, as the reason Bilal claims he is on the list is because of his speech. The judge also distinguished the case from previous killings of US citizens such as the drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, stating that Bilal is not challenging the "kill list" program or military operations but is challenging the process that places a citizen on the list without notice or a challenge. The judge also dismissed Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan from the lawsuit as his claims that he is a target were speculative. Ahmad is not a US citizen.
The government filed a subsequent motion to dismiss arguing that the case could not go forward because the relief sought by Kareem along with any evidence that might be used in the case were all protected by the state secrets privilege. The court sided with the government and dismissed the case, leaving Kareem without any recourse: "Without access to the privileged information, Mr. Kareem is unable to establish whether he has targeted by the lethal force or what information was considered in reaching the alleged decision to target him. Mr. Kareem is "incapable of demonstrating that sustained a violation of" his constitutional rights without the information... He 'has alleged, but ultimately cannot show, a concrete injury amounting to either a specific present objective harm or a threat of specific future harm. in this instance, in which the relevant information is solely in the control of the United States and is protected by the state secrets privilege, Mr. Kareem is left with no method to obtain it to pursue his case, which must therefore be dismissed.
