Acts of terrorism both here and abroad, war crimes, torture (state-sponsored or otherwise), disappearances, summary executions, imprisonment, hostage-taking and other atrocities … it is a little-known fact that, unlike other nations in the world, the United States has a civil justice system that can address these abuses. When it comes to helping victims of human rights violations, the United States has the best and, under some circumstances, the only laws available for survivors to obtain some sort of redress and monetary compensation and to hold abusers financially accountable in court.
A few of these cases have been in the news lately. First, lawsuits by American citizens “against Libya for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and other attacks,” have been settled.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled “that Saudi Arabia and four of its princes cannot be held liable in the Sept. 11 attacks even if they were aware that charitable donations to Muslim groups would be funneled to al-Qaida.”
And the 2nd Circuit also decided to “reconsider its decision to toss out a Canadian engineer's lawsuit over torture he says he endured after being mistaken for an Islamic extremist.”
The Syrian-born Arar was detained in 2002 after switching planes at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he returned to Canada from vacation. Federal authorities say he had been wrongly listed as an al-Qaida member.
Arar, 37, who lives in Ottawa, said in a lawsuit that he was freed only after being sent to Syria and tortured during nearly a year in prison.
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