ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Family of Steven Sotloff, an American journalist beheaded by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria in 2014, have filed a lawsuit against the Syrian government in an American court.
In their lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Washington on Monday, Sotloff’s father, mother, and sister claim that the government of President Bashar al-Assad provided financial, material, and military support for ISIS and that this “caused the abduction and murder of Steven Sotloff.”
Syria is designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States. As such, the lawsuit contends, the Assad government is liable for Sotloff’s death.
The family is seeking $90 million in compensatory damages and up to three times that amount in punitive damages from the Assad government.
Sotloff, a freelance journalist, had crossed the border into Syria from Turkey in order to report on the humanitarian situation for several US news outlets including Time and Foreign Policy magazine when he was kidnapped in August 2013.
He was beheaded by the terrorist group on September 2, 2014 and a video of the crime was distributed online. His death came just one month after ISIS beheaded James Foley, another American journalist.
Previous lawsuits against state sponsors of terrorism, including Syria and Iran, have progressed through American courts. While some cases have resulted in huge awards of damages, seizing assets from the foreign states to pay the awards has been difficult.
In their lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Washington on Monday, Sotloff’s father, mother, and sister claim that the government of President Bashar al-Assad provided financial, material, and military support for ISIS and that this “caused the abduction and murder of Steven Sotloff.”
Syria is designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States. As such, the lawsuit contends, the Assad government is liable for Sotloff’s death.
The family is seeking $90 million in compensatory damages and up to three times that amount in punitive damages from the Assad government.
Sotloff, a freelance journalist, had crossed the border into Syria from Turkey in order to report on the humanitarian situation for several US news outlets including Time and Foreign Policy magazine when he was kidnapped in August 2013.
He was beheaded by the terrorist group on September 2, 2014 and a video of the crime was distributed online. His death came just one month after ISIS beheaded James Foley, another American journalist.
Previous lawsuits against state sponsors of terrorism, including Syria and Iran, have progressed through American courts. While some cases have resulted in huge awards of damages, seizing assets from the foreign states to pay the awards has been difficult.
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