This is what you can expect:
Judge nails Iran, Al Qaeda for 9/11 with $6 billion penalty in lawsuit
A judge Monday awarded 9/11 relatives $6 billion in their suit targeting Al Qaeda and silent partner Iran for complicity in the heinous plot that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Manhattan Federal Magistrate Judge Frank Maas’ ruling is the first to hit those responsible for the attacks with civil penalties, which would be due to 110 survivors and to the estates of 47 victims that are parties to the suit.
Plaintiff Ellen Saracini’s husband, Victor Saracini, was captain of United Airlines Flight 175, which struck the south tower of the
World Trade Center
.
“It’s hard being happy, but I am happy about it,” said Saracini, of Yardley, Pa. “But it opens up old wounds. We were never in it for a lawsuit. I wanted to know what happened to my husband.”
Last year, Federal Judge George Daniels ruled that 9/11 was not just the
work of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban regime that gave them safe haven.
Daniels found that Iran, its Grand Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei and the regime’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah aided the attacks.
Iran concealed hijackers’ travel through the country and could have prevented them from entering the U.S., while an Iranian government memo suggested Khamenei knew of the plot in May 2001.
Investigators also believe that Iran helped Al Qaeda
members escape Afghanistan after 9/11 and provided some safe haven. The 9/11 commission cited the findings and said they merited further investigation.
Whether the plaintiffs will see a penny is unclear.
Bin Laden died cut off from his family’s wealth, while Al Qaeda is on its last legs and the Taliban remains at war with the U.S.
That leaves the families’ legal team to seek seizure of Iranian state assets overseas, which they say
fund terror worldwide.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/judge-nails-iran-al-qaeda-9-11-6-billion-penalty-lawsuit-article-1.1125347
