A victory for victims of jihad terror: “The Supreme Court sided Monday with victims of Al Qaeda’s 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa, ruling unanimously that they were eligible for punitive damages from Sudan, which was found to have assisted the terror organization.”
The attacks killed hundreds and wounded thousands more. In 2001, many of the victims and their family members “sued Sudan in federal court, arguing that it had helped Al Qaeda in carrying out the bombings.”
Sudan remains on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism because of the activities of the former Omar al-Bashir government that supported and enabled jihad terror, even harboring the worst jihadists, including Osama Bin Laden between 1991 and 1996. “Judge John D. Bates of the Federal District Court in Washington found in 2011 that Sudan had provided crucial assistance to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, its leader.”
The current Sudanese government, meanwhile, “maintains that it was the former regime that supported terrorism and that the Sudanese people shouldn’t be punished for crimes committed by Bashir’s regime.”
Although the American government supports Sudan’s transitional government and considers it a diplomatic “friend,” one of the conditions for removing Sudan from the terror list is “a settlement with families of those killed in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania,” which will inbvolve multi-billion-dollar compensation. Although Sudan “reaffirms that it was not involved in any wrongdoing in connection with those acts,” compensation for the victims seals the country’s commitment to Washington’s conditions for delisting it as a state sponsor of terrorism, and will also demonstrate Sudan’s commitment to fighting jihad terror within its borders.
“Supreme Court: Victims of 1998 Al Qaeda attacks in Africa can sue Sudan,” by Jess Bravin, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2020:
The Supreme Court sided Monday with victims of Al Qaeda’s 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa, ruling unanimously that they were eligible for punitive damages from Sudan, which was found to have assisted the terror organization.
The decision comes at a delicate time for relations between the U.S. and Sudan, where an uprising last year overthrew the 30-year regime of Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed by his forces in the country’s Darfur region. Washington and the transitional government in Khartoum recently agreed to exchange ambassadors for the first time in decades.
As part of its effort to get off the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, Sudan this year settled claims by victims of the 2000 Al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, who likewise alleged the Bashir regime had supported the terror organization. The State Department is seeking to negotiate a settlement for the embassy bombings as well, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said.
“Sudan helped Al Qaeda perpetrate the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which devastated countless families of the U.S. employees and contractors working there. It’s hard to imagine an act more deserving of punitive damages,” said Matthew D. McGill, who argued the case in February. “We are hopeful that this soon will lead Sudan to reach a just and equitable resolution with its victims.” The Nairobi victims were the only ones who sought punitive damages…..
Buraq says
Time for a name change: Sued-dan! Clowns!
elee says
Where is Kitchener of Khartoum when we need him? And after what the Sudanese Muslims have done to the black Christians of South Sudan, why are they allowed to continue operating a recognised “government”? And is your first-world government subsidising these bastards?
mortimer says
Next, the courts should help the people sue Saudi Arabia for it’s undeniable role in 9-11.
gravenimage says
+1
Linde Barrera says
To mortimer-I am in agreement. +1.
Rory Daulton says
You should change the title of this article, since neither of the bombings was “in Sudan.” You should say something like “U.S. Supreme Court rules victims of jihad bombings in Africa in 1998 can sue Sudan for billions.”
gravenimage says
This is technically correct, if nitpicky.
gravenimage says
U.S. Supreme Court rules victims of jihad bombings in Sudan in 1998 can sue for billions
…………………
Of course, no American will see a penny–still, this is a moral victory, and is good to hear. It may also mean that we cut foreign aid to these murderous thugs.