Pindo judge orders Iran to pay billions to families of 9/11 victims
RT.com, May 2 2018
Tehran has been ordered by Judge George Daniels of the NYC District Court to pay more than $6b to victims of 9/11, despite the fact that Iran had nothing whatever to do with 9/11. On Tuesday, Daniels found the Iranian government, the Iranian central bank and the IRGC liable for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the 9/11 attacks, and ordered them to pay over $6b in compensation to the victims’ families. The default judgment seeks compensation of $12.5m per spouse, $8.5m per parent, $8.5m per child, and $4.25m per sibling. This is not the first time that Daniels has issued default judgments against Iran. In 2011 and 2016, he ordered the Islamic Republic to pay billions of dollars to victims of the attacks. Tehran has yet to react to the latest ruling, but has previously dismissed such accusations as ridiculous, given the fact that none of the perpetrators were Iranian citizens, and no investigation ever found direct links to Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter last year:
Some 15 of the 9/11 perpetrators were Toad subjects, while two were from the UAE, one was from Egypt, and one was from Lebanon. The Pindo lawsuit, originally filed in 2004, claims that Tehran somehow supported the hijackers and provided them with training and financial assistance. Tuesday’s judgment is not linked to similar cases filed by the victims against the Toads, which claim that Riyadh provided direct support to the hijackers. Back in March, Judge Daniels rejected a request by the Toads to dismiss the lawsuits. Both Toad and Iranian cases are based on the socalled Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which was passed in 2016 and allows families of the victims to take foreign governments to court.
Niqnaq 