Americans held hostage in Iran win compensation, 36 years later

After spending 444 days in captivity, and more
than 30 years seeking restitution, the Americans
taken hostage at the United States Embassy in
Tehran in 1979 have finally won compensation.
Buried in the huge spending bill signed into law
last Friday are provisions that would give each of
the 53 hostages or their estates up to $4.4
million.
Victims of other state-sponsored terrorist attacks
such as the 1998 American Embassy bombings in
East Africa would also be eligible for benefits
under the law.
“I had to pull over to the side of the road, and I
basically cried,” said Rodney V. Sickmann, who
was a Marine sergeant working as a security
guard at the embassy in Tehran when he was
seized along with the other Americans by an
angry mob that overran the compound on Nov. 4,
1979. “It has been 36 years, one month, 14 days,
obviously, until President Obama signed the
actual bill, until Iran was held accountable,” he
said.
The law now stands to bring closure to a saga
that riveted the nation and ruptured America’s ties
with Iran. The very agreement that won the
hostages’ release in 1981 barred them from
seeking restitution. Their legal claims were
repeatedly blocked in the courts, including an
appeal denied by the Supreme Court. Congress
tried but failed to pass laws granting them relief.
But this year, vindication came in a decision that
forced the Paris-based bank BNP Paribas to pay a
$9 billion penalty for violating sanctions against
Iran, Sudan and Cuba. Some of that money was
suddenly available for victims of state-sponsored
terrorism.
Some of the hostages were subject to physical
and psychological torture during their long ordeal.
It is not clear, however, whether all the former
hostages or their families will receive full
payments. In large measure that is because the
$4.4 million total authorized by Congress depends
on the outcome of efforts to collect on judgments
won in earlier court rulings involving victims of
terrorist attacks, as well as on the number of
victims who file claims.
The law authorizes payments of up to $10,000
per day of captivity for each of the 53 hostages,
37 of whom are still alive. Fifty-two hostages
were released on Jan. 20, 1981; a 53rd hostage
had been released earlier because of illness.
Spouses and children are authorized to receive a
lump payment of as much as $600,000.