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| Iraq |
| U.S. justice considers Iraqi funds' immunity |
| 2009-01-11 |
| Aswat al-Iraq: The Supreme Court said on Saturday it will decide whether the Iraqi government has immunity in American courts for the acts of Saddam Hussein's regime, according to a report published by the Web site Law.com. Tareq Harb, the chairman of the Iraqi Legal Culture Association, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Saturday (Jan. 10) that the Iraqi funds enjoy immunity even against acts committed during the time of the former regime. Foreign nations usually are immune from lawsuits in U.S. courts, but federal law strips that protection from countries that support terrorism. Under Saddam, Iraq was considered a state sponsor of terrorism. But the Iraqi government, backed by the Bush administration, says the U.S.-led invasion that deposed Saddam and a federal law enacted in 2003 restored Iraq's immunity to lawsuits in American courts. Americans suing Iraq include CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, who was held for more than a month during the Gulf War in 1991. The Iraqi government also is being sued by the children of Kenneth Beaty, an oil rig supervisor, and by the children of William Barloon, an aircraft maintenance supervisor. The plaintiffs are seeking compensation for the emotional distress they said they suffered because of their fathers' treatment while in Iraqi custody. In 2001, U.S. District Court judge Louis Oberdorfer in Washington, D.C., found the two men had been tortured after being illegally detained in Baghdad. The judge awarded Beaty, of Mustang, Okla., $4.2 million, and awarded Barloon, of Jacksonville, Fla., $2.9 million. The men worked in Kuwait when picked up by Iraqi guards in separate border incidents, Beaty in 1993 and Barloon in 1995. The Iraqi government sentenced Beaty and Barloon to eight years in prison for illegally entering Iraq. Beaty was released after a ransom of $5 million was paid to the Iraqi government, Beaty's lawyers say. Barloon was released after being held for 126 days. At the time of an earlier lawsuit by Beaty and Barloon and their spouses, U.S. law deprived Iraq of immunity from lawsuits. At issue in the case brought by the men's children is whether a federal law enacted in 2003 and a related presidential order restored immunity from lawsuits to Iraq. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia says it does not, that the law applies narrowly to legal restrictions on assistance and money for the new Iraqi government. Chief Justice John Roberts, then an appeals court judge, said in an earlier case that the 2003 law and the president's order were sufficient to block the lawsuits. |
| Posted by:Fred |