JUSTICE ACTION ALERT: SUDAN

Introduction

The U.S.-Sudan Claims Settlement Agreement and the implementing legislation represent an unprecedented settlement agreement with a state sponsor of terrorism in that the U.S. government provided for compensation for all but a small group of U.S. citizen victims of the foreign state’s terrorist activities. The unfair imposition of all the burdens of the agreement on this small group of victims renders the Sudan settlement agreement unconstitutional and requires remedial government action.

Background
On August 12, 1993, the United States Department of State designated the Republic of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism, a designation that carries with it significant legal and economic penalties. Official State Department records state that Sudan’s terrorist designation was occasioned by its support for Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and by its support for the international terrorist group, Hizballah.
Of these terrorist organizations, Hamas, in particular, benefitted from Sudan’s material support. Throughout the more-than-30-year rule of Colonel Omar al-Bashir, Sudan provided Hamas with financial support, specialized and professional military training for the planning and execution of terrorist attacks, training bases and military facilities in which terrorist training was provided to Hamas and its operatives; safe haven and refuge from capture for Hamas leaders and operatives; means of electronic communication; financial services, including banking and wire transfer services; and means of transportation. Sudan also enabled Hamas to manufacture and stockpile weapons in its territory.

Additionally, Sudan facilitated arms shipments from Libya and Iran to Hamas, both overland and by sea. For example, in March 2014, the Israeli navy intercepted the commercial ship, Klos-C, off the coast of Sudan. The Israeli navy examined the ship’s cargo and found a variety of weapons including 40 M-302 surface-to-surface rockets having a range of 90-200 kilometers; 181 122 mm mortar shells; and 400,000 rounds of assault rifle ammunition. These weapons originated in Iran and were being shipped to Hamas, with Sudan’s assistance.
In 2016, due to international pressure, Sudan severed ties with Iran. But, until at least 2019, Sudan continued to provide Hamas with safe haven, local offices, and other forms of material support. By providing this extensive material support to Hamas, Sudan enabled and participated in countless Hamas terrorist attacks. Many of these attacks targeted or victimized U.S. citizens.

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CJF IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON TWO CASES PERTAINING TO JUSTICE FROM SUDAN

CHAVA RACHEL MARK, et al. v. REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN Case No. 20-cv-3022 TNM (D.D.C. 2020)

Estate of Hirshfeld v. Islamic Republic of Iran, Civil Action No. 15-1082 CKK (D.D.C. 2018)

For the past 25 years, Dr. Michael Engelberg, founder and Executive Director of The Center for Justice and Freedom, has been a tenacious advocate for victims of oppression and those whose civil and human rights have been violated.

Michael developed and pioneered the use of a then-novel approach to reducing terrorism. By penalizing its state sponsors with lawsuits that make public their crimes, large monetary rulings against them and actually recovering in some cases tens of millions of dollars, totaling well over $200 million on behalf of victims, during his career in anti-terrorism, he has done as much as any civilian to get the state sponsors of terrorism to think twice about providing money laundering and other support to terrorist operations. This significantly hampers what terrorists can do and how often they can do it. It is hard to calculate how many lives Michael’s work has saved by limiting the resources available to some of the most ruthless organizations on the planet.

A retired pediatrician who had lectured extensively on Attention Deficit Disorder in both New York and New Jersey, Michael began his efforts countering terrorism by working to change the law to permit US citizens to recover substantial compensatory damages against the state sponsors of terrorism. This enabled him to fund more litigation to counter terrorism. 

One of Michael’s earliest cases is: HIGGINS V. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, was groundbreaking  in many ways.  As attorney-in-fact, he engaged a law firm to  represent the surviving family members of Colonel Richard Higgins, who had been captured by Hezballah, imprisoned and tortured for 15 months and then murdered.

The Higgins family was awarded $57 million because of Michael’s advocacy, and so began Dr. Engelberg’s second career.

Michael Engelberg was the driving force in advocating for the victims of the Fort Hood Massacre, when other lawyers and law firms declined. He orchestrated a civil action against our own government for showing callous disregard for the safety and security of its soldiers stationed at that military base.

Currently, Michael’s newest mission is to, within the framework of the CJF,  is working to reduce the threats to our democracy posed by the highly polarized society we have become.  The Center for Justice and Freedom is examining ways to reduce the tensions and mistrust in today’s society which can ultimately lead to violence and terrorism. 

The Center for Justice and Freedom will seek out every effective method to help Americans solve problems together.  We want to assure that the types of problems occurring elsewhere in the world do not become problems among our own people within our own country. 

Additionally, the CJF will help Americans understand that there are step-by-step repeatable processes that can be used to guide people who vote for very different political parties to come to solutions to key problems that make a great deal of sense to people across the political spectrum.

There are organizations that profit from increasing that polarization. From cable news networks to social media companies to the political parties themselves and their candidates, inciting and amplifying distrust is key to how they do what they do. The Center for Justice and Freedom is seeking to be a force for the free exchange of ideas on campus, in the workplace, and in the broader society as a whole. We seek to go beyond mere civil dialogue to effective cooperation across what appears to many to be insurmountable divides.

The Center for Justice and Freedom is committed to seeking ways to prove to Americans that the neighbor with the lawn sign that you would never display is not your enemy. We often actually share values. We just have some different opinions. With flexibility, we can work together effectively. Only by working together effectively can America promote democracy all over the world. Justice and Freedom around the world depend on America’s example. Being a better example in the future workplace and campus than we have been in the recent past is critical.