Posted on 12/15/2005 7:09:45 PM PST by nuconvert
US court orders Iran to pay 126 million dollars to Beirut bombing victims
Thu Dec 15, 2005
A US federal judge has ordered Iran to pay victims of a 1983 suicide bombing of the US embassy in Beirut 126 million dollars, lawyers for the victims said.
Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Wednesday that Iran supported Hezbollah militants in the April 1983 bombing, the first suicide attack ever against a US embassy.
Citing evidence that Iran provided Hezbollah with arms, money and other support, Bates ruled that Iran must pay 29 victims and their families 126 million dollars.
"We are pleased that the court has again recognized Iran to be at the center of this heinous act of terrorism and that Iran will be called to account for its actions," said Michael Martinez, a lawyer representing the victims.
"We are hopeful that we will be able to enforce the judgment soon," he said.
The embassy bombing killed 63 people, including 17 US nationals. Anne Dammarell, a former US Agency for International Development employee, who was wounded in the bombing was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
"This lawsuit is our way of fighting back," she said in a statement. "It is the only way we have to make Iran accountable for the incredible pain it inflicted through its support of Hezbollah."
Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!
I hope the recipients haven't any immediate need of this money.
Will never happen.
The embassy bombing killed 63 people, including 17 US nationals. Anne Dammarell, a former US Agency for International Development employee, who was wounded in the bombing was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. "This lawsuit is our way of fighting back," she said in a statement. "It is the only way we have to make Iran accountable for the incredible pain it inflicted through its support of Hezbollah."
I may be missing something here... but... go with me on this...
When a foreign court tries to hold one of our own accountable, even for frivolous reasons, or lies, we call BS on the whole thing and ask "who do they think they are, charging us with something".
Yet now a US court has ordered a foreign nation to pay for its actions, and we have nothing of the same in return.
My ill-informed question is... what right does a US court, who does not dictate foreign policy, have when it comes to demanding reparations from a foreign country?
This ruling, as I understand it, relates to funds belonging to the Iranian government residing in American bank accounts that have been seized. Instead of returning the funds in the event of a U.S. policy change toward Iran, the victims of Iran's global terror campaign have a legal claim to those funds before any of it would be returned to the Iranian government. There was some resistance from the State Department about local rulings like this one a few years ago because, you are right, they do limit future American foreign policy options. The seized funds were a bargaining chip, but now... everybody knows you can't bargain with an uncompromising and self destructive regime like the one in Iran.
Thanks. Now -that- makes sense.
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