Judge Rules Iran Must Pay Billions to Families of 9/11 Victims

A New York federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Iran must pay billions of dollars to the families of those killed on 9/11, according to ABC News.

Judge George B. Daniels sided with the families that sued the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, accusing them of being liable for the deaths of 1,008 people on September 11, 2001. The lawsuit began in 2004, following the passage of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which allows civil claims against a foreign state if its accused of terrorism.

The Middle Eastern nation never responded to the lawsuit, and likely will ignore the verdict, especially since the 9/11 commission failed to turn up any direct evidence that Iran supported the perpetrators.

According to the court, Iran must pay any person who lost a spouse $12.5 million, a parent or a child $8.5 million, and a sibling $4.25 million.

"In December 2011, a New York federal court held a hearing and found that the evidence presented established that Iran’s provision of material support to al-Qaida was a cause of the 9/11 attacks and the resulting damage, injuries, and deaths,” said Robert Haefele, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, to ABC News.

"It is difficult for those injured or left behind to ignore the findings of the federal court about Iran’s culpability," he added. "But those findings should not overshadow the mountain of evidence presented against Saudi Arabia, which remains central to the plaintiffs’ case."

This case is just one part of a larger suit from the families of the victim of 9/11 against Saudi Arabia, which the country tried and failed to have dismissed last month.

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