Canada opening its courts to terror victims
The Canadian government has introduced legislation that will allow Canadian terror victims to sue terror organizations and rogue states in Canadian courts.On June 2, the government introduced the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which will, among other things, permit Canadians to sue foreign states that support terrorists.Countries should make value judgments in which they name state sponsors of terrorism. If a country has problems saying that Iran or Syria supports terror, then they are morally blind and should be taken to task for it. It's good to see Canada doing the right thing.
The announcement followed a five-year campaign by the Canadian Coalition Against Terror, which consists of victims of the 1985 Air India bombings, 9/11 and other terrorist attacks. If the law makes it through Parliament, Dr. Wise said she might be among those seeking compensation for the act of political violence that left her unable to return to work for more than a decade.
"At some point I'm hoping that there will be a group of us that will be able to do just that," she said in an interview this week. "I support the bill 100%, and if that was available to me, and there were lawyers that were going to take on the case, I certainly would be interested in it."
Critics say the law will draw Ottawa into a diplomatic minefield by forcing it to name countries that have sponsored terrorism. Human rights lawyers want the law broadened to include foreign states complicit in torture. Many have argued that court-awarded damages may never be collected.
Dr. Wise said she doesn't care if she ever gets any money. That is just as well, because in other jurisdictions, collecting from the state sponsors of terrorism has not proven easy. Americans awarded hundreds of millions in damages from Iran have so far collected little of it.
But they have become a thorn in the side of the Iranian government. They forced France to freeze tens of millions worth of Iranian bank deposits, and they outraged Tehran by going after Persian artifacts that had been loaned to U. S. museums.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:20 PM
1 Comments:
Iran's leaders and the terrorists don't care what the West says about them. But they do pay attention when the assets they use to promote violence and terror abroad are put out of their reach. As far as sanctions go, they send a very effective message.
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