Kenyan victims of US embassy bomb attack awarded Sh88bn

NEW YORK

Six Kenyans injured in the 1998 US embassy bomb blast in Nairobi have been awarded close to $1 billion (Sh88 billion) in damages.

Another 515 Kenyans who joined the lawsuit filed in a Washington court could also be awarded large sums of money this week after the judge called a status conference on the cases for Friday.

The six who won damages last week were Mr Castro Otiende, Mr Protus Manyasa Buluma, Mr Dipak L. Shah, Mr Wilfred Nderitu, Mr Charles Makori Mogi and Mr Kioko Muema.

Mr Justice John Facciola dismissed the cases of two other Kenyans, Mr Abel Mutego Nijru and Ms Felistus Njeri Thuo, because they died in the attack and “as deceased individuals, lack the capacity to sue.”

Last Thursday, Judge Facciola ruled that the six included in a “bellwether trial” conducted in 2011 were each entitled to $150 million (Sh13.2 billion) in damages.

The judge also decided that each of the six was eligible for an additional award ranging from $11.3 million to $16.9 million, bringing the total sum in the six cases to $985.9 million.

The attack on the embassy, in which 200 Kenyans and 12 Americans were killed, was “one of the most grotesque and depraved acts imaginable,” Judge Facciola wrote in his 31-page ruling.

“It is unclear whether plaintiffs will ever recover their damages in this case.”

RECOVERED FROM ASSETS

The awards would come from whatever Al-Qaeda assets that the US can seize although the judge acknowledged that the extent of the terrorist group’s wealth was “unknown”.

His ruling was the second this year in which those injured or killed in the twin bombings against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania have been awarded damages.

In April, another judge in Washington ruled that 23 Tanzanians and Americans killed or injured in the August 7 attacks were entitled to $957 million in damages.

That judgment was rendered against the governments of Iran and Sudan, which were found to have abetted Al-Qaeda’s actions.

Last week’s ruling marks a victory for US lawyer Philip Musolino, who has pursued the case for 15 years, as well as the victims.

A bellwether trial of the sort that took place in Judge Facciola’s court three years ago involves a random sample of cases drawn from a large group of plaintiffs.

A jury’s verdict in a bellwether trial serves as the basis for resolving the remaining cases, which in this instance total 515.

In deciding awards on the basis of pain and suffering, Judge Facciola relied on a report written by Ms Joan Mwendi Kiema-Ngunnzi, a sociologist who researched the effects of the bombing on employees of the Teachers Service Commission, whose offices were destroyed in the attack.

Ms Kiema-Ngunnzi concluded that the survivors suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. They also were marked with a social stigma that they continue to experience.

One of the plantiffs, Mr Otiende, is a 44-year-old married man with four daughters. He suffered permanent scarring from flying glass that cut his neck and chest.

Mr Otiende “believes that some people in Kenya regard him as being unlucky or being bad luck because he was a victim of the embassy bombing,” Judge Facciola wrote.