A federal appeals panel ruled Wednesday that $1.75 billion in Iranian funds should be handed over to families of the victims of a notorious 1983 bombing on a Marine barracks in Beirut.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Manhattan federal Judge Katherine Forrest’s 2013 ruling related to the bombing that left 241 Marines dead –- paving the way for roughly 300 families of those victims and other terror attacks to pocket at least $5 million each. The families argued Iran provided material support to the Hezbollah militant group that carried out the Beirut attack and had won a judgment against Iran in 2007.
The three-judge panel in Manhattan rejected arguments by lawyers for Bank Markazi, the central bank of Iran, which argued that turning over the money would conflict with U.S. obligations in a 1955 treaty signed with Iran. The panel, instead, said turning over the award money was “entirely consistent” with the terms of the treaty.
“We reject Iran’s arguments that conflicts with the Treaty of Amity between the United States and Iran, violates separation of powers, and effects an unconstitutional taking,” the panel said.
The money is currently being held by a court-appointed trustee after President Obama in 2012 ordered property and interests of Iran, including assets of Bank Markazi, be blocked.
Thomas Fortune Fay, a Washington DC-based lawyer representing the victims, said the ruling affects 1,400 cases that were combined. The veteran lawyer called the panel’s ruling the “highlight of my career.”
“These are good people, the best of the best, and they would not give up – no matter how long it took,” he said.
Fay said the litigation began shortly after 9/11 nearly 13 years ago and that roughly 85 percent of the judgment will go to families of the victims of the attack in Beruit.
Lawyers for Bank Markazi did not immediately return messages.
In filing lawsuits to recover money from Iran, Fay and other lawyers had argued that evidence showed the Iranian government acted alone, and its late supreme cleric, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered the Beirut bombing.
A truck carrying more than 2,000 pounds of explosives sped past a sentry post and exploded outside the Beirut barracks in the early hours of Oct. 23, 1983, as many servicemen slept.
Lawyers for victims contended the explosion was part of a larger plot to drive all Americans out of Lebanon.
The Marines killed and wounded in the attack were part of a multinational peacekeeping mission.