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No Immunity for Alleged “Terror States”: U.S. Court
WASHINGTON
, June 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A U.S. appeals court has
ruled
Libya
and other nations that the
United States
describes as state sponsors of terrorism have no immunity from
lawsuits brought by
U.S.
nationals who can prove mistreatment by those regimes.
The
decision, taken on
Friday, June 28, 2002
, by a federal appeals court upheld the 1999 Foreign Sovereign
Immunities Act, which asserts
U.S.
jurisdiction over human rights violations of
U.S.
nationals by so-called state sponsors of terrorism, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) said.
The
decision came in the case of two men who sued
Libya
, claiming they were tortured and held hostage after their arrest in
March 1980.
The
appeals court's three-judge panel unanimously rejected
Libya
's claim that the lawsuit filed in 1997 violated the U.S.
Constitution's guarantee of due process under the Fifth Amendment.
"We
hold that the Fifth Amendment poses no obstacle to the decision of the
United States
government to subject
Libya
to personal jurisdiction in the federal courts," the judges said.
The
judges, however, also said Michael Price and Roger Frey's lawsuit
failed to show they were tortured or taken hostage, as defined in the
1999 law, during their 105 days of imprisonment in
Libya
, AFP reported.
Price
and Frey claimed they were kicked, clubbed and beaten by prison guards
and subjected to physical, mental and verbal abuse before being
acquitted on charges of spreading anti-revolutionary propaganda.
The
two also claim Libyan authorities filed the charges to demonstrate
support for the taking of the U.S. Embassy in
Tehran
in 1979 by students.
Meanwhile,
U.S.
prosecutors said
Saturday, June 29, 2002
, they were considering appealing a judge's ruling that the
U.S.
government's branding of an Iranian opposition group as a terrorist
organization was unconstitutional, AFP said.
A
Los Angeles
judge on Friday threw out charges against seven Iranians accused of
soliciting one million dollars for an alleged terrorist group because
Washington
had labeled the group a terrorist outfit without affording it due
process.
The
decision could raise serious questions about the validity of
Washington
's designation of certain groups as terrorist outfits.
"We
are reviewing the ruling and will then consider all of our options,
including the possibility of appellate review," said Thom Mrozek,
spokesman for the
U.S.
attorney's office.
The
seven Iranians were accused of approaching travelers at
Los Angeles
International
Airport
between 1997 and 2001 and asking for money, which was allegedly
destined for the armed wing of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) group.
The
FBI says the group, classified by the
U.S.
government as a terrorist organization, aims to overthrow Iranian
leadership and has carried out a series of attacks on targets in
Iran
from its bases in
Iraq
.
But
U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi ruled that the Iranians were
denied due process because they were "deprived of their liberty,
based on an unconstitutional [terrorist] designation they could never
challenge."
Relying
on an appeals court ruling in
Washington
, which found that
Washington
's designation of the MEK as a "terrorist group" was
unconstitutional, the judge found that the seven were being denied
their right to a fair trial.
"When
weighed against a fundamental constitutional right which defines our
very existence, the argument for national security should not serve as
an excuse for obliterating the Constitution," the judge said in
his 19-page ruling.
U.S.
President George W. Bush has branded
Iran
part of an "axis of evil" that also included
North Korea
and
Iraq
.
Washington
has come under fire from human rights groups since September's attacks
on
New York
,
Washington
and a plane that crashed in
Pennsylvania
for allegedly rolling back civil liberties to pursue its war on
terror.
The
seven Iranians were charged with 59 counts of providing material
support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The
government had alleged that the MEK raised up to 10,000 dollars a day
in
Los Angeles
and deposited more than one million dollars into a pair of local
Turkish bank accounts.
A
spokesman for the MEK strongly denied that the group was involved in
any of the attacks or incidents cited by the State Department.
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