COMPENSATION FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE US EMBASSY BOMBINGS
GJG helped hundreds of American, Kenyan and Tanzanian victims of the U.S. Embassy bombings to obtain compensation.
Since the early 2000s, GJG is on the field in Kenya and Tanzania identifying the victims 1998 Al Qaeda attacks on the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, which killed 224 people and wounded over 4,500, mostly locals. The victims’ identification process is still ongoing.
GJG assisted survivors in obtaining legal representation from 5 visionary American law firms to file civil lawsuits and obtain compensation for hundreds of American, Kenyan and Tanzanian victims.
GJG created the infrastructure for the identification of the victims and the survivors, training local personnel, engaging in collaborative partnerships with local counsel and convening periodical meetings with groups of survivors informing them of the opportunity to obtain compensation through litigation in the United States.
In August 2008, 608 survivors, 604 non-Americans, filed a lawsuit against the Republic of Sudan and the Islamic Republic of Iran and others for their complicity in the Al Qaeda attacks under the exception to the FSIA - 28 USC §1605A. In November 2011, US District Court for the District of Columbia entered a judgment on liability in favor of survivors and, in 2014, the Court ordered Iran to pay billions of dollars.
In February 2020, following the submission by Sudan of a motion to vacate the consolidated judgments, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments to reinstate the $4.3 billion in punitive damages against Sudan. GJG organized travels for a group of survivors and their families to be present at the hearing and speak to the press.
On May 18, 2020, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that “the plaintiffs proved Sudan’s role in the attacks and established their entitlement to compensatory and punitive damages.”, establishing the rights of both US citizens and foreign nationals employed by the US to hold state sponsors of terrorism accountable in US Court for their actions.
This success has established an historical precedent paving the way to obtain compensation for all the others who, empowered by the success of the pioneer survivors who filed the first lawsuit, are now submitting their claims in several subsequent cases.
GJG is still on the ground both in Kenya and Tanzania supporting local partners in the process of identifying the survivors in the most remote areas of the countries, documenting their claims and establishing partnerships with local lawyers for the provision of the necessary legal aid.