Human rights group Shurat HaDin Law Center is opposing the release of Iranian funds, saying the money should instead be paid to victims of Iran-sponsored terror attacks.
An Israel-based rights group has launched a lawsuit, seeking to block the release of $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets in the United States following the US-led nuclear deal with Tehran.
The Shurat HaDin Law Center says it’s acting on behalf of two dozen US citizens who won more than a billion dollars in judgments against Iran in American courts but who were never paid.
The United States has pledged to unfreeze the funds belonging to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which are primarily held in overseas bank accounts.
The center says its attorneys Robert Tolchin of New York and Nitsana Darshan-Leitner in Tel Aviv filed the injunction last Wednesday at a New York district court.
The Americans were victims of suicide bombings and drive-by shootings perpetrated from 1995 to 2006 by Iran-backed terror groups like the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“The families of the terror victims also fear that the released billions will be utilized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), which provides financial support and weapons to the terrorist groups, to fund waves of future rocket and bombing attacks. They are adamant that other innocent American families will not endure the tragedies their families suffered,” Shurat Hadin said in a statement.
“It would be outrageous to release the $100 billion in frozen Iranian funds when these American families have unpaid court judgments against the terror sponsoring regime in Tehran” stated Darshan-Leitner.
“For more than a decade Iran has refused to pay these court judgments and has thumbed its nose at these terror-victim families and the US court system. The $100 billion in frozen funds is the last leverage the families have to compel Iran to satisfy their judgments. If you release these funds you erase all hope for the families of ever getting a measure of justice against this outlaw regime,” she pointed out.
“The US encouraged these families, grievously harmed by terrorism, to file suit against Iran and now the government has a moral duty to assist them in collecting on their judgments. To release the funds instead of turning them over to the victims would make a farce out of this hard fought legal process,” the attorney stated.
By: AP And United with Israel Staff
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