Iraqi Cleric Faces Novel Suit on Hostage-Taking
Russell Frost, Waiel el-Maadawy and Amr
Mohamed brought their complaint Tuesday just over a year after their
abduction. The Americans say they had been working in Iraq on a
government contract to train Iraqi special forces when they were grabbed
on Jan. 15, 2016, outside a translator’s apartment in Dora, a
neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad.
The men initially thought they had been
taken be Sunnis aligned with the Islamic State group, but el-Maadawy
noticed an image of al-Sadr on one of his captor’s cellphones.
Since the U.S. has sided with
al-Sadr-aligned militia groups in the fight against the Islamic State,
this gave the men confidence that they might survive the ordeal.
Frost, el-Maadawy and Mohamed eventually learned that they had been abducted by Saraya al-Salam, a militia they say al-Sadr founded and Iran funds.
Lawsuits against Iran for providing
material support to terror groups are fairly common, but the men’s
filing in Washington marks perhaps the first time anyone has sued
al-Sadr.
“We felt like he should be responsible
for organizing and instructing the groups that took these guys captive
just as much as Iran is,” Kevin Hoffman, an attorney for the former
captives, said in an interview.
Hoffman’s clients say they were held
incommunicado for 31 days, blindfolded at a compound in Sadr City, in
violation of numerous international laws.
“The hostage takers kicked the legs out
from underneath their hostages, forcing them to kneel before the mural
of Muqtada al-Sadr, taped dirty rags over their eyes, bound their hands
and feet, and taped rags over their mouths so tightly that the men could
barely breathe,” the complaint states.
“Every day for the next three weeks, they underwent psychological and physical torture,” the lawsuit continues.
The three Americans said they slept in
freezing cold, asbestos-laden cells and “learned to urinate in empty
water bottles in order to avoid the beating they would receive whenever
they asked to use a bathroom.”
“Furthermore, the men discovered evidence
of brain matter, body tissue, and other human remains throughout the
area where they were being kept,” the complaint continues.
Hoffman, an attorney with the firm Singer
Davis in Virginia Beach, noted that two of his clients were able to
listen to and converse with their captors because they speak Arabic
fluently.
“The guards bragged to Waiel and Amr
about their Iranian military training and the time they had spent with
Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the complaint states. “They also told Waiel about
how their financial resources, weapons, and equipment came directly
from Iran.”
Hoffman could not say for sure if his client spoke the Iraqi dialect of Arabic.
“Their job was to train Iraqi special
forces while they were over there, and so I would imagine they spoke the
dialect on a regular basis,” he said.
According to the complaint, the State
Department became aware as early as 2013 that Iran had plans to use “an
obscure Islamist group and its regional proxies” to increase kidnapping
operations against Americans.
The men claim that an anonymous State
Department official had knowledge that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad had
received intelligence the week before their kidnapping that “an
Iranian-backed Shia militia group wanted to seize American personnel.”
That threat was allegedly never communicated, however, to the trio.
The agency is not a defendant to the complaint, but the men say this same State
Department official failed to warn the men because he had been
optimistic that negotiations surrounding the Iranian nuclear deal would
persuade Iran to restrain the militia.
Hoffman offered no comment on whether he
has plans to take legal action against the U.S. government, saying only
that he is investigating every possible avenue on behalf of his clients.
Upon their release, the three Americans were forced to thank al-Sadr in a video filmed in front of a large portrait of him.
“The men were also told to warn the
United States that the Shia militias were prepared to resist if America
tried to invade Iraq again,” the complaint states.
On July 17 – one day after the men’s release – al-Sadr said on his website that his militias would target U.S. individuals.
“This stance was re-affirmed in a
televised interview with Muqtada al-Sadr’s official spokesman who stated
‘(w)e are thirst [sic] for Americans’ blood,’” the complaint says.
Hoffman said his clients are doing well as they recover from the experience.
“All three of them are exceedingly
resilient guys,” Hoffman said. “They have a long history of public
service and they’re not really dissuaded from that.”
Still, the men suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and are undergoing medical treatment for lingering injuries.
“For instance the way they were bound for extended periods of time caused nerve damage in some of their limbs,” Hoffman said.
“They are doing their best to move on and
they are recovering but there’s no doubt that they’re going to be
affected by this physically and emotionally and mentally for a long
time,” he added.
Neither the Iraqi embassy or the Iranian
interest section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington responded to an
emailed request for comment about the lawsuit.
Frost, el-Maadawy and Mohamed are seeking
punitive damages for their confinement, and pain and suffering –
including torture. The men had been working in Iraq for Blue Light LLC, a
subcontractor of General Dynamics.
