WASHINGTON, April 22 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court in Washington Tuesday left the door open for an American woman to sue Libya for a 1987 "hostage taking."
The three-judge appeals court panel said the woman must amend the hostage-taking claim in her suit to comply with federal law but dismissed her claim of torture. Libya had asked that both claims be dismissed.
Sandra Jean Simpson, a U.S. citizen; and her Egyptian husband, a permanent resident of the United States, were passengers on the small luxury cruise ship Carin II when a severe Mediterranean storm interrupted their trip.
Libyan harbor authorities notified the crew of the Carin II that it could use the port of Benghazi as a safe harbor and the vessel was escorted into port by a Libyan harbor boat.
"On Feb. 14, 1987, Libyan authorities boarded the Carin II and 'forcibly removed' the passengers and crew," the appeals court said Tuesday. "Libya held Simpson and her husband captive and threatened to kill them if they tried to leave. Libyan authorities separated Simpson from her husband approximately three months into their captivity. Shortly thereafter, Libya released Simpson but held her husband incommunicado for four more months."
The Libyans accused Simpson and her husband of being U.S. spies.
Simpson's husband has since died, but in July 2000 Simpson filed a complaint in Washington against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya -- Libya's official name. In the suit, she alleged battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium.
She asked for compensatory and punitive damages from the North African country.
When Libya failed to answer the suit, Simpson successfully asked a federal judge to enter the country in default.
However, Simpson also offered to arbitrate the case with Libya, as long as the arbitration was done by an experienced organization on U.S. soil.
Libya successfully reopened the case and asked that it be dismissed. When a federal judge refused, the country appealed.
Simpson won a partial victory from the appeals court Tuesday.
The Foreign Service Immunities Act gives foreign states immunity from civil suits in the United States, with some exceptions. The 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act amended FSIA to allow suits against foreign countries designated by the United States as "state sponsors of terrorism."
The acts that could precipitate such a suit include "torture" and "hostage taking."
The 1996 law also includes a jurisdictional requirement that the plaintiff give the foreign country a chance at arbitration. Libya contended it was not given a fair chance at arbitration, and therefore the suit should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
The appeals court rejected that contention Tuesday.
However, the appeals court dismissed Simpson's claim of torture. Libya's alleged acts "certainly reflect a bent toward cruelty ... (but) they are not in themselves so unusually cruel or sufficiently extreme and outrageous as to constitute torture under the meaning of the (1996) act," the appeals court said.
Her claim of hostage taking was left intact, but only if she amended it to comply with international law.
The International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages defines "hostage taking" as forced detention, accompanied by threats to kill or injure, in order to force a third party to do something to earn the hostage's release.
Simpson's complaint details how she was held captive, but "she does not allege that Libya's intended purpose behind her detention was to compel anyone to do or abstain from doing any act," the appeals court said.
It appears possible that Simpson will be able to make such a claim, the appeals court said, and sent that portion of her suit back down to the trial court to allow her to amend her complaint.
There was no immediate word on whether Libya would ask the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to rehear the dispute, or ask the Supreme Court for review.
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(No. 01-7191, Simpson vs. Libya.)
