High Court rejects lawsuit over Iranian hostage-taking

[klook]

High Court rejects lawsuit over Iranian hostage-taking

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider reinstating a $33 billion lawsuit over the detention and torture of Americans in Iran more than 20 years ago. Justices had been asked to allow Iran to be sued by the former diplomats and others held hostage for 444 days. The court declined, without comment.

The former hostages were freed during President Reagan's inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20, 1981. President Carter's inability to rescue them was a key issue in his 1980 election loss to Reagan.

The international agreement which led to the hostages' release prohibited legal action against Iran.

Congress has tried to help former hostages bypass that agreement — the Algiers Accords — by passing bills authorizing lawsuits. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled last year that the agreement remains in effect, because Congress was not clear enough in its actions.

"Congress intended to provide a meaningful remedy for the terrible ordeal that the (former hostages) and their families endured," Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, their attorney, told justices in a filing.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in 2000, four years after Congress passed anti-terrorism legislation allowing litigation by people alleging they were harmed by acts of state-sponsored terrorism.

more - http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-06-14-court-iranhostage_x.htm

I wonder if any of the hostages have tried getting damages from the Reagan administration officials who negotiated to make sure they were held in captivity until after the 1980 election?!?!