WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The estates and surviving family members of U.S. citizens murdered in two different terrorist attacks on hotels in Kabul, Afghanistan have sued the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia. The Complaint, filed last week, alleges that Iran provided material support and resources to the Taliban and its militant arm the Haqqani Network, which carried out the attacks.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the January 2018 siege on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, which lasted 17 hours and resulted in 42 dead and 14 wounded. They also claimed responsibility for the May 2015 attack on the Park Palace Hotel in Kabul, which claimed 14 lives. The plaintiffs are victims of these two hotel attacks.
The plaintiffs are represented by Ron Jenkins of Meridian 361 International Law Group, PLLC and the attorneys at Heideman Nudelman Kalik, PC. They have represented terror victims in numerous lawsuits against foreign state sponsors of terrorism brought under federal legislation that waives foreign sovereign immunity for certain states that have provided material support or resources to terrorist organizations.
In 2016, this same legal team obtained a judgment against the Syrian Arab Republic in the amount of $346 million for the attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels by al-Qaeda in Iraq under the leadership of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Litigation against state sponsors of terrorist organizations is an important part of the struggle against international terrorism. Without the safe haven, equipment, financial resources and travel mobility provided by state sponsors, terrorist organizations cannot operate as effectively. Iran has been included on the official list of state sponsors of terrorism maintained by the U.S. State Department since 1984.
SOURCE Meridian 361 International Law Group, PLLC