[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1877 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1877

 To amend title 28, United States Code, to allow suits against foreign 
states for damages caused by torture, extrajudicial killing, and other 
                            terrorist acts.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 16, 1995

    Mr. Fox of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Baker of 
 Louisiana, Mr. Schumer, Ms. McKinney, and Mr. LaTourette) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 28, United States Code, to allow suits against foreign 
states for damages caused by torture, extrajudicial killing, and other 
                            terrorist acts.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. JURISDICTION FOR LAWSUITS AGAINST FOREIGN STATES FOR ACTS OF 
              TERRORISM.

    (a) Exception to Foreign Sovereign Immunity for Certain Cases.--
Section 1605 of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (5);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
                (6) and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(7) not otherwise covered by paragraph (2), in which 
        money damages are sought against a foreign state for personal 
        injury or death, or economic harm, that was caused by an act of 
        torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage 
        taking, or the provision of material support or resources (as 
        defined in section 2339A of title 18) for a person carrying out 
        such an act, by a foreign state or by any official, employee, 
        or agent or such foreign state while acting within the scope of 
        his or her office, employment, or agency, except that an action 
        under this paragraph shall not be maintained unless--
                    ``(A) the claimant first affords the foreign state 
                a reasonable opportunity to arbitrate the claim in 
                accordance with accepted international rules of 
                arbitration; and
                    ``(B) the act upon which the claim is based--
                            ``(i) occurred while the individual 
                        bringing the claim was a national of the United 
                        States (as that term is defined in section 
                        101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality 
                        Act); and
                            ``(ii) occurred while a determination was 
                        in effect under section 6(j) of the Export 
                        Administration Act of 1979 (50 App. U.S.C. 
                        2405(j)) or section 620A of the Foreign 
                        Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371), that 
                        the government of that foreign state repeatedly 
                        provided support for acts of international 
                        terrorism.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(e) For purposes of paragraph (7) of subsection (a)--
            ``(1) the terms `torture' and `extrajudicial killing' have 
        the meaning given those terms in section 3 of the Torture 
        Victim Protection Act of 1991;
            ``(2) the term `hostage taking' has the meaning given such 
        term in Article 1 of the International Convention Against the 
        Taking of Hostages; and
            ``(3) the term `aircraft sabotage' has the meaning given 
        such term in Article 1 of the Convention for the Suppression of 
        Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation.''.
    (b) Exception to Immunity From Attachment.--
            (1) Foreign state.--Section 1610(a) of title 28, United 
        States Code, is amended--
                    (A) by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
                (6) and inserting ``, or''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
            ``(7) the judgment relates to a claim for which the foreign 
        state is not immune under section 1605(a)(7), regardless of 
        whether the property is or was involved with the act upon which 
        the claim is based.''.
            (2) Agency or instrumentality.--Section 1610(b)(2) of such 
        title is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``or (5)'' and inserting ``(5), or 
                (7)''; and
                    (B) by striking ``used for the activity'' and 
                inserting ``involved in the act''.
    (c) Applicability.--The amendments made by this title shall apply 
to any cause of action arising before, on, or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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