[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13965-S13966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN:
  S. 1877. A bill to clarify and reaffirm a cause of action and Federal 
court jurisdiction for certain claims against the Government of Iran; 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, we all remember the dark days of the Iran 
hostage crisis between 1979 and 1981. Fifty-two Americans were taken 
hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held in captivity by the 
Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers for the ensuing 444 days in the 
newly-established Islamic Republic of Iran. They were brutalized by 
their captors and the pain and suffering of these brave Americans and 
their families throughout that ordeal cannot be over-estimated.
  A constituent of mine, Ms. Kathryn Koob, from Waverly, IA, is one of 
two women former hostages who endured this nightmarish experience. Last 
December, she joined the other 51 American heroes taken hostage and 
their families in filing a lawsuit in the Federal District Court of the 
District of Columbia seeking redress of this grievous miscarriage of 
justice and payment by the Government of Iran for the damages and 
injuries they incurred. If these plaintiffs are successful, the Federal 
courts could order payment from Iranian cash and assets still frozen in 
the United States.
  Incredibly, the U.S. Justice and State Departments in mid-October 
and, at the latest possible hour, intervened in this case, Roeder v. 
the Islamic Republic of Iran, seeking to vacate the Federal judge's 
default judgment in favor of the former hostages and their families and 
to have this lawsuit dismissed altogether. De facto the Bush 
Administration is siding with the Government of Iran and against our 
own people who were taken hostage and treated so cruelly during the 
Embassy takeover. How could this be, especially when we are

[[Page S13966]]

united as a Nation in a war against terrorism and the U.S. State 
Department itself continues to document and declare the Government of 
Iran as the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world today?
  The Government of Iran has never had to pay one cent to any of the 
Americans taken hostage or their families. If U.S. Justice and State 
Department attorneys get their way, the Government of Iran will never 
have to pay anything and the hostages and their families will never be 
given their day in Federal court to pursue justice and be awarded 
compensation.
  That is why I am today introducing legislation, The Justice for 
Former U.S. Hostages in Iran Act, to prevent this grave injustice from 
being compounded. My bill would reaffirm the clear intent of this 
Congress expressed in four prior enactments and make crystal clear that 
this group of hostages and their families have the right to pursue 
their Federal lawsuit to its rightful conclusion and to be eligible to 
receive compensatory damage awards from the Government of Iran, should 
the Federal courts so determine on the merits.
  The position of the U.S. Justice and State Departments, contrary to 
the claims and interests of the American hostages and their families, 
is that the U.S. Government must honor a little-known executive 
agreement called the Algiers Accords that Presidents Carter and Reagan 
entered into in January, 1981 in order to get our hostages released 
from captivity inside Iran. The Algiers Accords, among other 
provisions, required the U.S. to immediately transfer to Iran through
  Algeria $7.9 billion in frozen assets in exchange for the freedom of 
our people. But also buried in the fine print of the Algiers Accords is 
one very specific provision which singularly strips the hostages and 
their families of their rights and flatly prohibits any of them from 
ever being able to sue the Government of Iran and make that regime pay 
for their pain and suffering. Ironically, under the terms of the 
Algiers Accords, U.S. companies can take the Iranians before an 
international tribunal at The Hague and recover damages for their lost 
property, but the Americans actually taken hostage and their families 
alone, are prohibited from doing the same. This is patently unfair to 
those American heroes and their families who suffered the most from 
this hellish experience.
  The Algiers Accords is not a treaty. It was never submitted to the 
Senate for ratification for obvious reasons. It is a shabby executive 
agreement that was negotiated under extreme duress and entered into 
between the executive branch of our government and the Government of 
Iran because the Government of Iran, at that time, was daily 
threatening otherwise to put all of our hostages on trial in Iran as 
``spies'' and to execute them. In fact, the Algiers Accords, from their 
inception, have functioned as little more than a ransom pact with 
kidnappers acting in the name and under the sponsorship of the 
Government of Iran.
  Last week, the Federal judge hearing this case expressed a reluctance 
to make a final judgment and to order the Government of Iran to pay 
damages unless the Congress takes further legislative action to clearly 
and irrefutably abrogate the Algiers Accords insofar as necessary to 
allow the Americans held hostage and their families to sue in federal 
court and recover damages from the Government of Iran. The next court 
proceeding is this unresolved matter has been scheduled for January 14.
  I appeal to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to co-sponsor 
this legislation with a sense of urgency and fairness. Unless the 
Congress acts promptly to reaffirm and clarify our prior enactments, 
the U.S. Justice and State Departments will block the only path still 
open to the hostages and their families to pursue justice, to get a 
federal court judgment against the Government of Iran for its brutal 
and criminal misconduct, and to require this on-going state sponsor of 
international terrorism to pay for the pain, suffering and injuries 
they inflicted on Kathryn Koob and these other courageous Americans.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1877

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FEDERAL COURT JURISDICTION OF CERTAIN CLAIMS 
                   AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN.

       (a) Cause of Action.--Notwithstanding the Algiers Accords, 
     any other international agreement, or any other provision of 
     law, a former Iranian hostage or immediate relative thereof 
     shall have a cause of action for money damages against the 
     Government of Iran for the hostage taking and any death, 
     disability, or other injury (including pain and suffering and 
     financial loss) to the former Iranian hostage resulting from 
     the former Iranian hostage's period of captivity in Iran.
       (b) Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts.--Notwithstanding 
     the Algiers Accords, any other international agreement, or 
     any other provision of law, no United States court shall 
     decline to hear or determine on the merits a claim under 
     subsection (a) against the Government of Iran.
       (c) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Algiers Accords.--The term ``Algiers Accords'' means 
     the Declarations of the Government of the Democratic and 
     Popular Republic of Algeria concerning commitments and 
     settlement of claims by the United States and Iran with 
     respect to resolution of the crisis arising out of the 
     detention of 52 United States nationals in Iran, with 
     Undertakings and Escrow Agreement, done at Algiers January 
     19, 1981.
       (2) Former iranian hostage.--The term ``former Iranian 
     hostage'' means any United States personnel held hostage in 
     Iran during the period of captivity in Iran.
       (3) Immediate relative.--The term ``immediate relative'' 
     means, with respect to a former Iranian hostage, the parent, 
     spouse, son, or daughter of the former Iranian hostage.
       (4) Period of captivity in iran.--The term ``period of 
     captivity in Iran'' means the period beginning on November 4, 
     1979, and ending on January 20, 1981.
       (d) Effective Date.--This section shall apply to--
       (1) any action brought before the date of enactment of this 
     Act and being maintained on such date; and
       (2) any action brought on or after the date of enactment of 
     this Act.
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