Denying Immunity for Iran's Terrorist Agenda

"The terrorist attacks out of which the respondents' U.S. judgements arise are repugnant to civilized society. The fact that a foreign government would engage in the sponsorship of such atrocities is chilling."
"There is nothing offensive about using peaceful legislative means to combat terrorism. To the contrary, awarding damages that may have a deterrent effect is a sensible and measured response to the state sponsorship of terrorism and is entirely consistent with Canadian legal morals."
"Indeed, Iran advances several arguments that appear designed solely to frustrate Parliament's intention and the proper operation of the JVTA [Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act]."
"That the American judgements awarded damages greatly in excess of what would likely be awarded in Canada does not offend any public or moral interest in Canada."
"It would take tremendous financial resources, perhaps beyond any potential financial recovery, to prove a state's material support of a terrorist organization, and a connection to a particular terrorist act, beyond a reasonable doubt."
Justice C. William Hourigan, Ontario Court of Appeal

Masked and armed militants of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza City    Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images

While the Islamic Republic of Iran insists that Canadian justice prove in a court of law by giving evidence of the claims that Iran incites to violence and is responsible for raising a proxy Shiite militia out of Lebanon, using Hezbollah as an unofficial militia to furtively create terrorist actions in other countries in pursuit of their agenda to destroy the State of Israel, and to dominate the Middle East through a sectarian conquest, these are no mere rumours. They happened, continue to happen, and Iran is totally implicated.

From the first of Hezbollah's missions in to deliver death in Lebanon to the embassies of the United States and of France, and its first truck suicide bombs in 1983 that killed 241 mostly U.S. Marines with the UN's Multinational Force, and 58 French peacekeepers, to succeeding attacks and threats up to the present, where Iran has dispatched its al-Quds Republican Guard Corps alongside Hezbollah to defend and support Syria's Bashar al-Assad in his brutal attacks against Sunni Syrians, Iran has had its malevolent fingers in all that goes awry.

Its loud and frequent imprecations against the United States and the "Zionist entity", alongside its threats to destroy the presence of Israel in the Middle East mark it out as not just any ordinary Muslim country threatening to disrupt the world order. Canada, under its previous government, withdrew its embassy from Tehran and invited Iran to withdraw its diplomatic mission from Ottawa, citing its viscious mischief as reason.

As an ally of the United States, Canada instituted legislation holding Iran accountable for its lethal violence against civilians, and when Iranian assets in the U.S. were exhausted in paying compensation to U.S. victims, they turned to Canada to secure compensation through Iranian assets held in Canada, absent diplomatic missions. Iran strenuously objected, and insisted it had diplomatic immunity, but it no longer had under the new legislation. Appealing to have the judgement overturned, the appeals court rejected Iran's appeal.

The American victims whom an American court awarded compensation for their pain and suffering when they were injured, kidnapped or tortured, along with the families of those who were killed in terror attacks Iran was responsible for, sued the theocratic Republic for arming, training and financially supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. The terror attacks took place over a period of years, leaving victims behind to vouch for the malevolent inspiration of Iran when:

• A suicide bombing of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983 by Hezbollah killed 241 American servicemen;
• Four separate attacks in Lebanon occurred, inclusive of the 1984 bombing of he U.S. Embassy in Beirut by Hezbollah where 14 people were killed;
• Various kidnappings in Lebanon in the 1980s by Hezbollah, one in which a U.S. lieutenant-colonel was hanged, and others released after long, brutal, traumatizing captivity;
• Three bombings in the 1990s by terrorist organizations found to have been supported and funded by Iran, that took place in Israel, Saudi Arabia and Argentina;
• The bombing by Hamas of Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 2002 killing Marla Bennett, 24, a student from California.

The total awarded reached $1.7-billion, With Iran, justice is a long, long way in coming. The country remains a dire threat and until its potential to create more deadly violence in the Middle East and beyond comes to an end, it will always represent just what it is: an evil empire. From its aspirations to become a nuclear power with a threatening nuclear arsenal, to achieving a power bloc of Shiite influence encompassing Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen (supported by Qatar and Turkey) the theocracy vehement on its hatred of the West, remains a deadly threat.

Friends of Marla Bennett grieve around her coffin during a memorial ceremony August 3, 2002 at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. Bennett, a 24-year-old resident of San Diego, California, was one of seven people killed by a Palestinian bomb at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University July 31, 2002      David Silverman/Getty Images