Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Iran dismisses US lawsuits over hostage taking |
|---|
| Saleema |
| 06/14/01 at 21:32:19 |
| [slm] The nerve of these people! I hope Iran sticks to its word. How do i write a letter of support to them? anyone got any addresses? Please let me know. The iraninas should sue the US in the Hague for the people that were murdered during the Sha's regime. And any iraqis out there? hello. you guys should sue the US goverment for killing civilians and unarmed soldiers during the Gulf War. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THU JUN 14 2001 08:06 A.M. G.M.T. Iran dismisses US lawsuits over hostage taking TEHRAN, June 14 (AFP) - Iran on Thursday dismissed as "groundless and unacceptable" lawsuits filed by two Americans held hostage in Lebanon in the 1980s and the family of a US national killed in captivity there. "For the Islamic Republic of Iran, these accusations are groundless and unacceptable," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told AFP. The suits, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, accuse Iran of backing the radical Lebanese Hezbollah movement which abducted the three men, Benjamin Weir, Frank Regier and Peter Kilburn, in 1984. "In principle, local tribunals do not have the competence to handle these types of complaints," Asefi asserted. He alleged that the suits were aimed at "turning public opinion from the successes that the Islamic Republic of Iran has had both at home and abroad," clear reference to the landslide re-election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami that drew a flood of congratulatory messages from overseas. Weir and Regier are seeking 100 million dollars each in compensation from Iran and the Iranian Ministry of Information and Security plus unspecified punitive damages. The brother of Kilburn, who was killed by the allegedly Libyan-backed Arab Revolutionary Cells after his abduction by Hezbollah, is seeking 200 million dollars from Iran and its information ministry and Libya and its Jamariyiya Security Organization plus unspecified punitive damages. The suits were filed under 1996 amendments to the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act which allow lawsuits against foreign governments if they commit terrorist acts or support perpetrators of terrorist acts that injure or kill US citizens. Both Iran and Libya are designated as "state sponsors of terrorism" by the US State Department. The department specifically accuses Tehran of supporting Hezbollah which it has designated a "foreign terrorist organization." Copyright (c) 2001, AFP |
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