A US federal judge on Tuesday ordered Iran to pay a mind-boggling $6billion to the relatives and loved ones of the victims of the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center.
As per ABC News, Judge George B. Daniels has ruled that the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran are all liable for damages owed to more than 1,000 victims whose families have sued.
Close to 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001, when planes flew into the Twin Towers…
Of the 19 hijackers involved, none of them came from Iran, but instead Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. However, lawyers successfully argued that Iran helped to train and thus prepare them for the attacks, despite the fact the 9/11 Commission found no evidence of this.
Judge Daniels determined that $12.5million should be awarded per spouse, $8.5million per parent or child and $4.5million per sibling. Interest accumulated over time was also added on.
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Representing the people who filed the lawsuit, attorney Robert Haefele released a statement saying: “In December 2011, a New York federal court held a hearing and found that the evidence presented established that Iran’s provision of material support to al-Qaeda was a cause of the 9/11 attacks and the resulting damage, injuries, and deaths.
“It is difficult for those injured or left behind to ignore the findings of the federal court about Iran’s culpability.
“But those findings should not overshadow the mountain of evidence presented against Saudi Arabia, which remains central to the plaintiffs’ case.”
The lawsuit was originally launched in 2004, but it wasn’t until a new piece of legislation – one allowing the US to hold a country or state liable – was passed in 2016, that the case could proceed.
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In spite of it being a landmark ruling, Judge Daniels’ decision is largely being viewed as ‘symbolic’, as it’s unlikely Iran will physically pay any damages. Thus far they’ve never responded to the lawsuit, and it’s unlikely victims will ever see cash.
The terror attacks on September 11 shook the world to its core, but from the ashes of the World Trade Center a new unity was forged in the face of terrorism.
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