The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a victory to Sudan by ruling that American sailors injured in the deadly 2000 al Qaeda bombing of the Navy destroyer USS Cole would not be collecting $314.7 million in damages from the north African country for its alleged role in the attack. In their 8 to 1 decision, American justices overturned a lower court’s decision that had ruled that the sailors shouls collect damages from certain banks that held Sudanese assets in the United States. A lower court had levied damages by default because Sudan did not defend itself against allegations that it provided support to the Islamist militant group. According to Reuters, fifteen of the injured sailors and three of their spouses sued the government of Sudan in 2010 in Washington. “At issue was whether mailing the lawsuit to Sudan’s embassy violated the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, a U.S. law governing when foreign governments may be sued in American courts.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 26, 2019 16:52 UTC