Simon v. Republic of Iraq

The D.C. Circuit reversed a judgment entered by the district court in consolidated cases in which the plaintiffs sued Iraq, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, and Saddam Hussein, alleging that they had been tortured and some of them had been taken hostage during the 1990-91 Gulf War. The plaintiffs' suits relied on the exception in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that allowed for lawsuits against state sponsors of terrorism. The district court dismissed the actions as untimely, however, and the plaintiffs appealed. The appeals court concluded that the plaintiffs could maintain their suits and that their cases were timely and justiciable despite the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, which revised the terrorism exception to sovereign immunity.

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Argued October 12, 2007

Before: SENTELLE, Chief Judge, and GINSBURG and BROWN, Circuit Judges.

The plaintiffs in these two consolidated actions sued Iraq, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, and Saddam Hussein (together, Iraq) alleging they had tortured and taken certain of them hostage during the 1990-91 Gulf War. The plaintiffs relied upon 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7), the exception in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), § 1602 et seq., that allowed for lawsuits against state sponsors of terrorism. The district court dismissed the actions as untimely and the plaintiffs appealed. Iraq defends the district court’s interpretation of the time limitation in the FSIA and alternatively invokes the political question doctrine.

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