Iranian State-Immunity

"The state-immunity impediment has now been removed and it allows us a direct route to domesticate in Canada the U.S. court decisions and to move forward on the issue of finding Iranian assets in Canada."  Toronto Lawyer Mark Arnold

The United States already had taken that step; it hasn`t had an embassy in Iran since the start of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 when Iranian religious fanatics stormed the American Embassy and took all of its diplomatic staff hostage, holding them for 444 days.  Americans who have been ill done by the Republic of Iran can sue in a U.S. court for any assets the Republic may have in the U.S.

Trouble is, those assets that existed at one time in the United States have been exhausted.  So that, David Jacobsen and Alann Steen who were only two among dozens of foreigners as well as 18 American citizens who were kidnapped and held hostage during Lebanon`s 1980s civil war have to look elsewhere. 

Because of its long and costly war with Iraq, Iran had ordered its militia proxy Hezbollah to abduct foreigners for ransom. The Iran-Contra Affair and Anglican representative Terry Waite`s imprisonment were all part of this drama, trying to secure the safe release of hostages, and trading arms and money to be channeled to Tehran illegally, creating a huge scandal for Richard Nixon. 

That is old history, but it does represent the background to what occurred to David Jacobsen, the-then director of Beirut`s American University, kidnapped in 1985.
President Reagan meets with Contra leaders in the Oval Office. Oliver North is at far right. When this photo was officially released North's image was cut out.

And Alann Steen who was among four western professors at Beirut University College, kidnapped in 1987.  They were chained to the floor in damp basements clad in underwear, beaten, and held until ransom was clandestinely paid to secure their release.  Because Iranian assets in the U.S. have been depleted, these two men are now turning to Canada, for Iran`s assets here.

Once back in America the two men successfully sued the Islamic Republic, the country`s ministry of information and security and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, with Jacobsen awarded $9 million in Iranian assets in the U.S. which he collected, while his children awarded $6.4 million were unable to collect. 

And Mr. Steen has been unable to collect $342 million in his judgement because all Iranian assets in the U.S. were depleted or frozen.

A Parliament of Canada report dated 2009 examining the possibility of Canadians suing foreign countries that sponsor terrorism gave warning that there were "limited sizable (seizable) assets in Canada."

"Victims will find themselves competing for the few, if any, assets available for recovery."