A group of Americans held hostage at
the U.S. embassy in Iran for 444 days in 1979, are taking their battle
for justice to Congress.
The
52 embassy workers were taken hostage on November 4, 1979, when
revolutionary militants stormed the Teheran building and suffered more
than a year of physical and mental torture at the hands of their
captors.
More than three decades later the victims and their survivors have yet to receive compensation, prohibited to bring a case against Iran due to the terms of the release
agreement from 1981.
Survivor: Steven Lauterbach cut his wrists
during his 444 days held hostage, in the hope that he would be so badly
hurt that he would be released from solitary confinement
Captive: One of the 52 U.S. hostages is
displayed to the crowd outside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by his
captors, a few days into their ordeal
However, they are hoping to end their
33-year-long battle for justice by persuading Capitol Hill to aid them
in their quest for a court judgment against Iran as a state sponsor of
terrorism.
Steven
Lauterbach, 61, was the assistant general services officer at the US
Embassy in 1979. His statement to the Congress begin with the words: ‘I
slashed my wrists in Iran’.
Locked in solitary confinement Mr
Lauterbach, 28 at the time of the seige, believed it was his only way
out. ‘I wanted to hurt myself bad enough that they would panic,’ he told
the National Journal.
He was found covered in blood and says he was ‘ready to die,’ but the militants managed to get him to a hospital in time.
Now he suffers from recurring nightmares that the deal has been rescinded and he will have to go back to his captors.
'It’s never completely in the past,’ he says. ‘You’re always in the shadow of it psychologically.’
Scarred for life: Rodney 'Rocky' Sickmann was
only 22 when he was taken hostage in November 1979 and says Iran 'raped'
him of his freedom
Blame: Deborah Firestone, daughter of a hostage
says the 444 days as a hostage changed her father and is the reason why
she has not seen him for eight years
Paraded: The blindfolded and bound man from the
52 held hostage is taken outside the embassy by the young militia in the
early days of the hostage-taking
Held: A photograph from November 1979 shows two Iranian militants with a female hostage at the U.S. embassy
‘Iran raped us of our freedom,’ says Rodney 'Rocky' Sickmann, who, aged 22, was the youngest hostage taken.
Mr Sickmann spent the first month in
captivity sleeping with his hands tied to his feet, and describes
how the hostages were forced to watch torture videos of people being
dipped in boiling tar or shot in the head in front of the camera.
To this day he still suffers from flashbacks, has trouble being alone and say he will never forget his time in captivity.
IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS
The
Iranian hostage crisis began on November 4, 1979 when young militants
calling themselves Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line,
supporters of the Iranian Revolution, stormed the U.S. Embassy in
Teheran.
The
storming of the embassy was a result of mounting hostility against the
U.S. after the exiled Shah of Iran was allowed to enter the America for
cancer treatment
Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was installed and supported by both the U.S. and
the UK governments but his rule was overthrown shortly after his exile
in January 1979 and replaced with an Islamic republic.
In
April 1980 there was a failed attempt to rescue the hostages which
resulted in the deaths of eight American servicemen, one Iranian
civilian, and the destruction of two aircraft.
The
release of the hostages was prompted by the invasion of Iran by Saddam
Hussein, then leader of Iraq, in combination with the death om the
exiled Shah.
The Algiers Accords was signed on January 20, 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, just minutes after he was sworn into office.
All hostages were released the following day after one year, two months, two weeks and two days in captivity.
Army
Colonel Leland Holland who died in 1990, would tell his children of being
beaten with rubber hoses and telephone books.
Thrice in the years
following his release, his family found him kneeling against a wall in
the basement with his hands over his head as if he was handcuffed.
Former
hostage Bruce German, 76, says he was under constant threat during his
time as a hostage. He recalls how the group would be awoken in the
middle of the night, stripped and blindfolded for mock-executions.
His
daughter, Deborah Firestone wrote a letter to Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini during her father’s capture begging for his release.
‘Dear Ayatollah,' she wrote 'I wish you could convince your people to let my dad come home to his family.
‘It is very difficult for me not having my dad around.’
When her father finally returned, he was a changed man.
Ms Firestone recalls watching her parents marriage fall apart, after which Mr German moved away.
He missed her college graduation as well as both her and her brother’s weddings. She has not seen her father for eight years.
Over
the years the 52 hostages, 12 of which have passed since they were
freed, have tried and failed to get justice and relief in American
courts multiple times.
This is due to the 1981 Algiers Accords, a deal brokered between the U.S. and Iran by Algeria, which saw the hostages released.
President
Carter signed the agreement which included a clause prohibiting the 52
hostages from bringing a lawsuit against Iran in a US court.
The hostages and their families did
bring a case against Iran in 2000 and won a default liability ruling
after the state of Iran failed to mount a defense.
However, the State Department argued to dismiss the case as it would violate an agreement signed by a U.S. president.
Compensation and justice: Bill Daugherty is estimating that each hostage should be awarded nearly $18million for their ordeal
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