Judge Orders Iran to Pay $13-Million for Terrorist Bombing That Killed Student

Judge Orders Iran to Pay $13-Million for Terrorist Bombing That Killed Student

Chronicle of Higher Education
Daily News Blog
September 11, 2007

Jerusalem - Officials at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have
welcomed a ruling by an American court that ordered the government of
Iran to pay compensation for an American student who was killed on the
campus in a Hamas bomb attack in 2002.

The student, Marla Bennett, a 24-year-old from San Diego who was a
graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, was studying for
an M.A. in Jewish education. She was one of nine students and
cafeteria workers killed in the lunchtime explosion in the crowded
Frank Sinatra Cafeteria at the university's Mount Scopus Campus.

In a ruling issued on August 30, Judge Royce C. Lamberth, of the U.S.
District Court in Washington, determined that because the bombing had
been carried out by members of the Hamas terrorist movement, which is
supported by the Iranian government, Iran bore responsibility for the
attack. Judge Lamberth ordered Iran to pay $12,904,548 to Ms.
Bennett's estate and family. The Iranian government did not respond to
the lawsuit, and as with other such terrorism-related litigation
against Iran, the plaintiffs are likely to find it difficult to
collect the judgment.

In a statement issued today, the Hebrew University administration said
it "pays tribute to the memory of Marla Bennett and all of the other
victims of the terrorist attack and expressed satisfaction at the
decision of the court, which perhaps will ease, if only slightly, the
sorrow of the family." ­Matthew Kalman