Overview:
Congress and the Administration have made clear that Sudan must fully satisfy the U.S. embassy victim judgments against it before it can be removed from the State Sponsor of Terrorism List. Despite public claims by Sudan’s Prime Minister that he was successfully negotiating to reduce payments to a few pennies on the dollar, Sudan’s victims have not been a part of any negotiations with Sudan over a settlement. The February 24th Supreme Court arguments were over whether Sudan will need to pay punitive damages for its role in 1998 embassy bombings. Sudan has already lost its appeals on compensatory damages, which are detailed below.
Based on enforceable final judgments, the Government of Sudan owes $5.921 billion in compensatory damages to U.S. Government employees murdered and injured in the August 1998 attacks upon United States Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as well as their immediate family members.
Sudan contested and challenged the award of compensatory damages in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Based on a detailed evidentiary record, and after multiple legal challenges by the Government of Sudan over the course of a decade, the federal judiciary determined the appropriate amount of compensatory damages owed by Sudan to the more than 765 U.S. Government employees and family members injured as a result of the August 1998 terrorist attacks.
The August 1998 Attacks Were Horrific and Caused by the Government of Sudan:
In August 1998, the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were devastated by simultaneous terrorist attacks and bombings. Prior to September 11, these were among the most devastating and bloody acts of international terrorism perpetrated against the People and civilian employees of the United States.
The bombings represented the most devastating attack by al Qaeda in a series of attempted and completed attacks supported, facilitated, and caused by the Government of Sudan against the United States from 1993 through 2000.
In imposing liability upon the Government of Sudan, Judge Bates found that the Republic of Sudan and its Ministry of the Interior “provided several kinds of material support to al Qaeda without which [al Qaeda] could not have carried out the 1998 bombings.”
The Judgments Entered Against Sudan Were the Result of Careful Legal and Factual Analysis, Contested by Sudan, and Affirmed on Appeal
The judgments against Sudan were achieved only after more than a decade of litigation with the Government of Sudan, a three-day bench trial which included live and recorded testimony, expert witnesses, and documentary evidence to establish Sudan’ responsibility for the mass murder and injury of U.S. Government employees at the U.S. Embassies.
Based on the bench trial held under the Federal Rules of Evidence, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates in November 2011 entered findings of liability against Sudan in favor of the U.S. Government employees and their immediate family members in a detailed published opinion which carefully and meticulously considered the relevant factual and legal issues.
From 2012 through 2014, seven Special Masters conducted individualized assessments of damages and submitted written reports of their findings to the District Court. In 2014, following its review and assessment of those recommendations, the District Court issued extensive published opinions and entered judgments in favor of the U.S. Government employees.
The District Court’s careful and detailed assessment of liability and damages is well-illustrated by the fact that in several instances it reduced damages awards or rejected and denied claims for damages despite the initial entry of default. Sudan unsuccessfully contested those findings in the District Court and on appeal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit has affirmed Judge Bates’ finding that Sudan is responsible for the 1998 Embassy Bombings and the award of compensatory damages in the amount of $5.921 billion.
The judgments include prejudgment interest, which, under federal law, is part of compensatory damages and “necessary for full compensation,” particularly here where justice was not obtained for the victims for almost sixteen years. As a rule, the U.S. Government receives prejudgment interest as part of an award of compensatory damages to it.
Recovery of 100% of compensatory damages follows congressional precedent. By statute in 2000, Congress provided 13 groups of judgment creditors of Iran and Cuba with 100% of their compensatory damages and a choice to accept an additional 10% of their compensatory damages if they waived their right to pursue punitive damages.
The U.S. Government employees killed and injured in the August 1998 Embassy attacks do not ask for more than those 13 groups of judgment creditors provided payments by Congress. In fact, they ask for less. The U.S. Embassy employees simply ask for assistance in obtaining their judicially awarded compensatory damages from Sudan.
At a time when Iran continues to sponsor terrorists to attack Americans and bomb U.S. Embassies, failure to pay the judgment will undermine efforts to protect American embassies and interests and send a message to Iran that in the end, there will be no price to pay for bombing our embassies. Ironically, failure to satisfy fully the judgment will be used and understood by Sudan and other SSTs to mean that the Rule of Law is not followed in the U.S. and that, with the assistance of our State Department, they are above the rule of law as set forth by U.S. courts after 10+ years of contested litigation in final enforceable judgments requiring Sudan to pay judicially determined compensation.