thedrifter
03-01-09, 07:09 AM
Terror victims seek Iran relics in court
Associated Press
March 1, 2009
CHICAGO - The professor opens a cardboard box and gingerly picks up a few hunks of dried clay - dust-baked relics that offer a glimpse into the long-lost world of the Persian empire that spanned a continent 2,500 years ago.
Matt Stolper has spent decades studying thousands of bits of ancient history. They're like a jigsaw puzzle. A single piece offers a tantalizing clue. Together, the big picture is a scholar's dream: a window into Persepolis, the capital of the Persian empire looted and burned by Alexander the Great.
The collection - on loan for decades to the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute - is known as the Persepolis Fortification Archive. They are, to put it simply, bureaucratic records. But they also tell a story of rank and privilege, of deserters and generals, of life in what was once the largest empire on earth.
For Stolper - temporary caretaker of the tablets - these are priceless treasures.
For others, they may one day be payment for a terrible deed.
In an extraordinary battle unfolding slowly in federal court here, several survivors of a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 1997 sued the government of Iran, accusing it of being complicit in the attack. They won a $412 million default judgment from a judge in Washington, D.C., and when their lawyer began looking for places to collect, he turned to the past.
He decided to try to seize the tablets, along with collections of Persian antiquities at the Oriental Institute and other prominent museums. The goal: Sell them, with the proceeds going to the bombing survivors.
His plan, though, has angered many scholars who see it as an attempt to ransom cultural artifacts and fear it could set a dangerous precedent.
"Imagine if the Russians laid claim to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the original draft of the Gettysburg Address because they had a legal case against us," says Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute. "How would we feel?"
This case stems from a horrific September afternoon in 1997 in Jerusalem when three suicide bombers blew themselves up on the city's Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, a crowded, open-air gathering spot.
The bombs, packed with rusty nails, screws, glass and poisons, killed five and wounded nearly 200. The Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, took responsibility. Two Hamas operatives were convicted in Israeli court.
Two groups of Americans sued. Several were critically injured: One teen, burned over 40 percent of his body, had more than 100 shrapnel wounds; a nail still pierced his skull years later. Another, just 18 at the time, was severely burned, suffered permanent hearing loss and breathing and walking problems. A third man had a burned cornea, a partially severed ear, leg wounds, large scars and chronic headaches.
Others sustained nerve damage, partial loss of vision and psychological trauma - one of the wounded later tried to kill himself.
"These were absolutely life-changing injuries," says David Strachman, the lawyer for the bombing victims. "The problem with terrorism is [after the attack is over], it looks like you're sort of done with it. But these people have problems that are going to be with them for years and years."
In taking on Iran and some of its high-ranking officials, Strachman - whose suit was consolidated with another filed by other victims - offered testimony that Iran had provided financial aid and terrorist training to Hamas.
The presiding judge found "clear and convincing evidence" Iran was liable for the injuries.
But he didn't say whether Iran's assets can be seized. That decision revolves around the commercial use of the tablets - an arcane question that's key to resolving this case, according to Thomas Corcoran, a Washington attorney representing the Iranian government.
Iran, though, has an unlikely ally in its fight: the Justice Department. In three statements, the agency has generally agreed the tablets shouldn't be seized, Corcoran says.
It turns out, though, there might be competition for the tablets.
Another lawyer is trying to seize the Persepolis collection and other Iranian assets to compensate more than 150 families of 241 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing of a Marines barracks in Beirut in 1983.
The families hope to collect a $2.6 billion default judgment against Iran, which has been blamed for supporting the militant group, Hezbollah, believed responsible for the Beirut attack. A special measure passed in Congress last year made it easier for families to receive compensation.
"If Iran wants to protect these things ... they're going to have to do something to pay their judgments," says Thomas Fortune Fay, a lawyer for the families.
Ellie
Associated Press
March 1, 2009
CHICAGO - The professor opens a cardboard box and gingerly picks up a few hunks of dried clay - dust-baked relics that offer a glimpse into the long-lost world of the Persian empire that spanned a continent 2,500 years ago.
Matt Stolper has spent decades studying thousands of bits of ancient history. They're like a jigsaw puzzle. A single piece offers a tantalizing clue. Together, the big picture is a scholar's dream: a window into Persepolis, the capital of the Persian empire looted and burned by Alexander the Great.
The collection - on loan for decades to the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute - is known as the Persepolis Fortification Archive. They are, to put it simply, bureaucratic records. But they also tell a story of rank and privilege, of deserters and generals, of life in what was once the largest empire on earth.
For Stolper - temporary caretaker of the tablets - these are priceless treasures.
For others, they may one day be payment for a terrible deed.
In an extraordinary battle unfolding slowly in federal court here, several survivors of a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 1997 sued the government of Iran, accusing it of being complicit in the attack. They won a $412 million default judgment from a judge in Washington, D.C., and when their lawyer began looking for places to collect, he turned to the past.
He decided to try to seize the tablets, along with collections of Persian antiquities at the Oriental Institute and other prominent museums. The goal: Sell them, with the proceeds going to the bombing survivors.
His plan, though, has angered many scholars who see it as an attempt to ransom cultural artifacts and fear it could set a dangerous precedent.
"Imagine if the Russians laid claim to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the original draft of the Gettysburg Address because they had a legal case against us," says Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute. "How would we feel?"
This case stems from a horrific September afternoon in 1997 in Jerusalem when three suicide bombers blew themselves up on the city's Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, a crowded, open-air gathering spot.
The bombs, packed with rusty nails, screws, glass and poisons, killed five and wounded nearly 200. The Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, took responsibility. Two Hamas operatives were convicted in Israeli court.
Two groups of Americans sued. Several were critically injured: One teen, burned over 40 percent of his body, had more than 100 shrapnel wounds; a nail still pierced his skull years later. Another, just 18 at the time, was severely burned, suffered permanent hearing loss and breathing and walking problems. A third man had a burned cornea, a partially severed ear, leg wounds, large scars and chronic headaches.
Others sustained nerve damage, partial loss of vision and psychological trauma - one of the wounded later tried to kill himself.
"These were absolutely life-changing injuries," says David Strachman, the lawyer for the bombing victims. "The problem with terrorism is [after the attack is over], it looks like you're sort of done with it. But these people have problems that are going to be with them for years and years."
In taking on Iran and some of its high-ranking officials, Strachman - whose suit was consolidated with another filed by other victims - offered testimony that Iran had provided financial aid and terrorist training to Hamas.
The presiding judge found "clear and convincing evidence" Iran was liable for the injuries.
But he didn't say whether Iran's assets can be seized. That decision revolves around the commercial use of the tablets - an arcane question that's key to resolving this case, according to Thomas Corcoran, a Washington attorney representing the Iranian government.
Iran, though, has an unlikely ally in its fight: the Justice Department. In three statements, the agency has generally agreed the tablets shouldn't be seized, Corcoran says.
It turns out, though, there might be competition for the tablets.
Another lawyer is trying to seize the Persepolis collection and other Iranian assets to compensate more than 150 families of 241 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing of a Marines barracks in Beirut in 1983.
The families hope to collect a $2.6 billion default judgment against Iran, which has been blamed for supporting the militant group, Hezbollah, believed responsible for the Beirut attack. A special measure passed in Congress last year made it easier for families to receive compensation.
"If Iran wants to protect these things ... they're going to have to do something to pay their judgments," says Thomas Fortune Fay, a lawyer for the families.
Ellie