US court orders Iran to pay $1.4bn in damages to detained FBI agent’s family

A US court has ordered the Iranian government to pay more than $1.4 billion in punitive and compensatory damages to the family of a former FBI agent who disappeared during a visit to an Iranian island in March 2007.

US District Judge Timothy Kelly said in a decision issued late last week that he had adopted a special expert’s recommendation that Robert Levinson’s family be awarded $107 million in compensatory damages. The judge awarded punitive damages of $1.3 billion.

The Levinson family welcomed the court’s ruling saying the judgment is “the first step in the pursuit of justice for Robert Levinson, an American patriot, who was kidnapped and subjected to unimaginable suffering for more than 13 years.”

READ: US hostage Robert Levinson dies in Iran

“Until now, Iran has faced no consequences for its actions. Judge Kelly’s decision won’t bring Bob home, but we hope that it will serve as a warning against further hostage-taking by Iran,” they added.

Earlier this year, the Levinson family said they believed he had died in Iranian custody, based on information from US officials. However, Iran denied this and said the former US FBI agent left the country years ago.

Levinson disappeared after traveling from Dubai to the Iranian-controlled Kish island in the Gulf in March 2007. There he met David Salahuddin, an American militant, who fled to Iran after committing murder.

TEHRAN, IRAN – MARCH 16: Dawud Salahuddin, an African-American convert to Islam who was born David Theodore Belfield (aka Hassan), poses for a portrait on March 16, 2014, in Tehran, Iran [Scott Peterson/Getty Images]

A few CIA officials were expelled from the agency and many were disciplined after an internal investigation.