Iran told to pay $1.7 billion to US victims of terrorism by Canadian court

A Canadian court has accused Iran of supporting terrorism and upheld a previous judgement by a US court to award victims of terrorism $1.7 billion. An Ontario appeals court rejected Iran’s contention in favour of “American victims of terrorism” allegedly carried out by Hezbollah and Hamas.

The ruling follows a long campaign by American victims of terrorism who initially filed their case against Tehran in the US accusing it of arming, training and bankrolling terrorist organisations. The families of victims won their individual cases and were awarded punitive damages that amount to about $1.7 billion. However with few Iranian government assets remaining in the United States, the victims turned to Canada, where Tehran maintains property and bank accounts.

Canada’s Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (JVTA), which is a similar legal tool as the US version Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), allows victims of terrorism to sue terrorists and foreign states for damages. The act allowed US victims to go after Iranian assets in Canada including converted offices in Toronto and two bank accounts in Ottawa.

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In delivering the verdict the judges were reported by Canadian news agencies as saying: “There is nothing offensive about using peaceful legislative means to combat terrorism.”

Responding to Iranian contention that it was immune from prosecution in Canada they said: “There is no principled reason why Iran should be immune from a costs award,” while concluding that if Iran’s arguments were accepted, the JVTA act would become “largely unworkable”.

In rejecting Iran’s contention that the victims had to prove in a Canadian court that Iran supported the specific terrorist attacks rather than relying on the US findings the judges ruled: “It would take tremendous financial resources, perhaps beyond any potential financial recovery, to prove a state’s material support of a terrorist organisation, and a connection to a particular terrorist act, beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The families of the victims include that of 241 US serviceman that were killed by Hezbollah in 1983 following a suicide bombing of the US Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. In addition to four separate attacks in Lebanon, including the 1984 bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, by Hezbollah that killed 14 people.