ATHENS, Ohio -- Almost exactly 14 years since the day he was taken hostage in Lebanon, Terry Anderson and his family filed a $100 million lawsuit against Iran. The former Associated Press correspondent says Iran sponsored the captors who kept him blindfolded and shackled for more than six years.
Similar lawsuits only became possible in recent years and at least three have won millions of dollars in judgments. Anderson, now 51 and teaching journalism at Ohio University, also expects to win. His case was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.But like the other plaintiffs, he also expects his lawsuit to become a challenge to the U.S. government.
The Clinton administration has thwarted claimants from collecting millions of dollars awarded by U.S. courts, even though the damage claims are against countries the State Department labels as sponsors of terrorism.
In October, the president issued a blanket waiver of a requirement that federal agencies help obtain that money.
"Much of our argument is likely to be with the U.S. government, rather than the Iranian government," Anderson said in an interview at his home about 10 miles outside Athens, Ohio.
"The law says that the U.S. government is supposed to help us in pressing our claim," said Anderson. Confident of winning a judgment against Iran, he said "the biggest obstacle to us receiving any money is the White House."
The lawsuit also names as plaintiffs Anderson's wife, Madeleine Bassil, 49, and their daughter, Sulome, who seek redress for emotional distress and their long separation from Anderson.
Sulome, 13, was born three months after her father, then AP chief Middle East correspondent, was taken captive in Beirut on March 16, 1985, as he returned from a morning tennis game.
Held longer than any other American in Lebanon, he was freed 2,454 days later, on Dec. 4, 1991. The family is seeking $100 million in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.
Named as defendants are the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Ministry of Information and Security.
The lawsuit says Anderson's captors were members of Hezbollah, or Party of God, "a politico-paramilitary terrorist organization operating in Lebanon." It says Iran is the party's sponsor, "providing it with funding, direction and training for its terrorist activities in Lebanon."
It says that as a hostage Anderson was fed a poor diet of bread, cheese and rice; was beaten, taunted and humiliated; was regularly threatened with death and falsely promised release; heard his fellow captives beaten and one die; grew so depressed he beat his head against a wall until he bled.
Iran's U.N. ambassador, Seyed Mohammad Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, denied Friday that Iran had supported the hostage-takers and said U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over foreign countries.
In a faxed reply to questions, Nejad Hosseinian said through a spokesman that Iran condemns international terrorism and that there is "no shred of credible evidence" that it finances Hezbollah.
Iran as well as Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria are listed by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism.