On July 30, 2004, the D.C. appellate court ruled that Blake Kilburn's lawsuit against Libya may proceed, despite complicated jurisdictional issues. Blake Kilburn is suing on behalf of his brother Peter Kilburn, who was kidnapped and murdered in Lebanon in 1986. Peter Kilburn was an instructor and librarian at the American University in Beirut.
For details from the court's opinion click below.
Kilburn v. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, No. 03-7117 (D.C. Cir. July 30, 2004) 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 15746
On November 30, 1984, Peter was abducted from his apartment; Hizbollah, a terrorist organization funded by Iran, claimed responsibility. In late 1985, the American government was approached by an intermediary who claimed to be acting on behalf of Kilburn's captors and who sought a ransom for his return. For the next several months, the United States negotiated for Kilburn's release. On April 14, 1986, while Kilburn was still in captivity, the United States conducted airstrikes on Tripoli, Libya, in retaliation for Libya's involvement in the bombing of a Berlin nightclub that killed two American soldiers. Thereafter, Libya made it known that it wanted to purchase an American hostage to murder in revenge for the airstrikes. Sometime between April 14 and 17, the Arab Revolutionary Cells (ARC), a terrorist organization sponsored by Libya, bought Kilburn from Hizbollah for approximately $ 3 million and subsequently tortured him. On or about April 17, 1986, ARC murdered Kilburn and left his body by the side of a road near Beirut, alongside the bodies of two British hostages. In a note found nearby, ARC claimed responsibility.
Blake Kilburn's complaint, filed on June 12, 2001, alleged that his brother was the victim of hostage taking, torture, and extrajudicial killing, for which the defendants were responsible. The complaint sought recovery through multiple causes of action, including the Flatow Amendment, 28 U.S.C. § 1605 (note), and theories of wrongful death, battery, assault, false imprisonment, slave trafficking, torture, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Although the complaint did not specify the legal sources of the latter causes of action, later pleadings asserted that they arose under state common law, foreign law, and international law, and that additional federal statutory causes of action might also be available.
Kilburn v. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, No. 03-7117 (D.C. Cir. July 30, 2004) 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 15746
On or about April 17, 1986, ARC murdered Kilburn and left his body by the side of a road near Beirut, alongside the bodies of two British hostages. In a note found nearby, ARC claimed responsibility.
Posted by: Houston Lawyer | March 24, 2011 at 09:51 AM