http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/ … 27367.htmlAn IRA victim support group is furious at a new immunity deal that will result in Libya compensating US citizens killed or injured in terrorist attacks, but not those from other jurisdictions -- such as Ireland.
The deal, passed by the US administration last week, effectively scuppers a $10bn law suit taken by British and Northern Irish victims against Libya for supplying weapons and explosives to the IRA.
Some 179 victims of IRA violence joined the class action, hoping to reach a compensation settlement with Colonel Gaddafi along the lines of the Lockerbie air disaster in Scotland.
The case was filed against Libya in America, where the law allows other nation states to be sued. But after two years going through the courts, the case hit a brick wall on Friday when the US agreed the draft immunity deal with Libya.
Under the deal, the US will lift the remaining sanctions against Libya in exchange for compensation settlements for US victims of Libyan-supported terrorist attacks.
Non-US citizens will not be able to pursue Libya, which will be immune from terror-related law suits once it settles its cases with US citizens.
Willie Fraser, of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) said that families of IRA victims had been "screwed" as a result of the deal. "We have been at this about six years. We tracked down the American victims to allow us to take the case in the first place," he said.
Of the 179 people who joined the class action, most were from Northern Ireland and Britain. They include Michelle Williamson, whose parents were killed in the 1993 IRA Shankill bomb, and Jim Dixon, who was injured in the IRA bombing in Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh, which killed 11 people.
They also include two Americans and their families, who are now likely to be compensated. According to Mr Fraser, one is a US naval officer who was based in Derry during the Troubles and who was caught up in a number of IRA incidents. The second is an American citizen who was injured in the IRA bomb attack on Harrods.
"They [the Americans] will now be entitled to get compensation. I don't begrudge it to them. We have been working on this for six years, to hold Colonel Gaddafi responsible. We thought at long last there was some justice in the world," he said.
Ronald Motley, of US legal firm Motley Rice, which is taking the class action, said the new act "selfishly settles some plaintiffs' claims and throws the rest of the plaintiffs to the wolves'' -- seeking to bar these victims from proceeding further with legitimate litigation against Libya.
Looks like In exchange for the money, Libya would be given immunity from any further attempts to sue it in the American courts and regain full diplomatic and economic status. which in turn would allow US oil companies to negotiate hundreds of billions of dollars worth of contracts, to drill the state's oilfields. what next? Immunity for Osama Bin Laden? ( as suggested by Ron Motley )
