[CPProt.net] Five hurt in terrorist bombing seek artifacts as restitution

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Five hurt in terrorist bombing seek artifacts as restitution
December 9, 2005

DETROIT --Five Americans hurt in a 1997 terrorist bombing have sued the
Detroit Institute of Arts and the University of Michigan seeking Iranian
artifacts as restitution for their injuries.

The bombing victims, from the New York area, won a $71.5 million federal
court judgment against the Iranian government, which they say sponsored the
suicide bombing at a Jerusalem pedestrian mall on Sept. 4, 1997.

They are also trying to seize Iranian antiquities from Harvard University,
the University of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The plaintiffs were among about 200 people injured when three Hamas members
set off bombs that contained nails and broken glass. Five people were
killed.

The five victims sued the Iranian government in a Washington, D.C., federal
court.

No defendants appeared in court, and in 2003, U.S. District Court Judge
Ricardo Urbina found them in default and ruled that the bombing "would not
have occurred without Iranian sponsorship."

This year, they sued the museums, including the DIA and the University of
Michigan's Museum of Art and Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, trying to seize
the antiquities as part of the court judgment, The Detroit News reported.

The plaintiffs allege the DIA and the university were involved in
expeditions to Iran in the 1930s and returned with coins, pottery,
sculptures and other items that may belong to Iran.

The university and the Detroit museum say the plaintiffs offer no evidence
that the Iranian government claims an interest in the artifacts. Even if the
items belonged to Iran, the victims' claims would be barred by the statute
of limitations, the institutions argue in court papers.

------

Information from: The Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com