Owens, James, et al. v. Republic of Sudan, et al.

Iran, Al Qaeda

[DDC] A 22-page decision issued by Judge John D. Bates in the Washington, DC district court found that both Iran and Sudan were involved in al Qaeda's 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. In the ruling, Judge Bates wrote: "The government of Iran aided, abetted and conspired with Hezbollah, Osama bin Laden, and al Qaeda to launch large-scale bombing attacks against the United States by utilizing the sophisticated delivery mechanism of powerful suicide truck bombs. Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based principally in Lebanon, had utilized this type of bomb in the devastating 1983 attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Prior to their meetings with Iranian officials and agents, Bin Laden and al Qaeda did not possess the technical expertise required to carry out the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam."