BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- The militant Islamic group Hezbollah on Tuesday denied the allegation by former American hostage Terry Anderson that it kidnapped him in 1985, saying it was "an illusory claim."
Anderson and his family filed a $100 million lawsuit against Iran on Monday, alleging that the Islamic Republic sponsored the captors, who he said were members of the Iranian-inspired, Shiite Muslim Hezbollah."Terry Anderson's claim that his kidnappers were members of the Lebanese Hezbollah is an illusory claim that has no basis in truth," Hezbollah's press office said. The statement, which was faxed to The Associated Press in Beirut, also denied Anderson's allegation that it was involved in terrorism.
"His description of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization is false and contrary to the confirmed fact that the Lebanese Hezbollah is a political and resistance party practicing its humanitarian, religious, legal and international legitimate right to defend its national land against the repressive Zionist occupation," the statement said.
Hezbollah has led the fight to oust Israeli forces from Israel's self-styled "security zone" in southern Lebanon. Israel set up the occupied zone in 1985 to try to protect against cross-border guerrilla raids.
Anderson's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleges that his captors were members of Hezbollah, "a politico-paramilitary terrorist organization operating in Lebanon."
It says Iran is the group's sponsor, "providing it with funding, direction and training for its terrorist activities in Lebanon."
Stories on the lawsuit appeared Tuesday in major newspapers in Beirut, which Anderson has visited twice since his release on Dec. 4, 1991, after 2,454 days in captivity.