US COURT RULES SYRIAN DEFENDANTS SPONSORED TERRORISM
The US District Court for the District of Columbia recently held an evidentiary hearing on two actions initiated by Lloyd’s against the Syrian Arab Republic, the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Agency, and Syria’s Director of Military Intelligence (the claims against the named Libyan defendants having been dismissed pursuant to the enactment of the Libya Claims Resolution Act). Lloyd’s seeks judgment and an award of damages for acts of state-sponsored terrorism that resulted in the hijacking and destruction of the aircraft of EgyptAir Flight 648 in 1985. The US Magistrate Judge ruled that the Syrian defendants provided material support and resources to and conspired with the terrorists in the hijacking of Egypt Air Flight 648, and that the Syrian defendants intended that their support would promote and cause extrajudicial killings of American citizens and the destruction of the EgyptAir aircraft. The Court additionally found that the actions could not have occurred without the explicit authorization of then-Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad. Accordingly, the Court will enter judgment and grant an award of damages on behalf of the plaintiffs against the Syrian defendants in a separate order. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London v. Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, No. 06-cv-731 (USDC D.D.C. Sept. 2, 2011).
This post written by John Black.
