Iran's mullahs in trouble because of foreign nationals' kidnappings
Iran has been ordered to pay $1.45 billion to the family of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing 13 years ago in Iran and is now believed to be dead.
The
U.S. District Court in Washington ordered Iran to pay Levinson’s family $1.35
billion in punitive damages and $107 million in compensatory damages for his
kidnapping.
The
ruling by Judge Timothy J. Kelly was published on Thursday. The lawsuit, filed
in March, 2017, seeks unspecified damages from Iran, in part for inflicting
emotional distress on Levinson’s wife and seven children.
The
family announced in March that Levinson had died in Iranian custody
after receiving corroborating evidence from U.S. officials.
They
said his death came prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
The
court cited the case of American college student Otto Warmbier, who died in
2017 shortly after being freed from captivity in North Korea, in explaining its
decision to award such a large amount of money to Levinson’s family.
Iran holds in its custody a large number of foreign
nationals, including some people with dual nationality, with the aim of
blackmailing the governments of their countries.
Tehran has resorted to the kidnapping of foreign nationals
and taking them hostage to serve its foreign policy agenda since the 1979
Islamic revolution.
Major countries have been trying to put pressure on Iran to
improve human rights conditions in it.
This comes against the background of the suffering those
with dual nationalities sustain in Iranian custody.
