Iran sued over death of father after release from prison in Lebanon
Relatives of a man who died of cancer months after being released from a Lebanese prison are suing Iran over what they say was his unjust detention and inhumane treatment that caused his terminal disease.
US citizen Amer Fakhoury was jailed by Lebanese security forces for seven months between September 2019 and March last year.
His wife and children are arguing in a court in Washington that Iran and its Lebanese militant proxy Hezbollah are responsible because they “intentionally ordered, directed and caused the psychological and physical torture [and] abuse” of Fakhoury, who died aged 57 in August last year.
“Iranian support has been foundational to Hezbollah since its emergence in the 1980s,” the 28-page lawsuit says, referring to a recent State Department memo.
The lawsuit says Fakhoury developed cancer while being held under inhumane conditions in Lebanon, linking it to the Epstein-Barr virus he caught while in detention.
“Our father was completely healthy before. He went to Lebanon at 225 pounds [102 kilograms] and came back 150 pounds [68kg],” Zoya Fakhoury, one of his four daughters, told The National.
“He obtained the Epstein-Barr virus at the Lebanese General Security prisons and because it went untreated for months under terrible conditions, it developed into lymphoma cancer which later took his life.”
Asked why the lawsuit is directed at Iranian and not Lebanese authorities, she said it was because Iran “controls Lebanon through Hezbollah”.
“We experienced first hand the corruption in the judicial system and how much Hezbollah influences every sector of the government,” said Ms Fakhoury, co-founder of the Amer Fakhoury Foundation.
Though he was never formally charged, Lebanese military officials accused Fakhoury of working for the South Lebanon Army, a now-disbanded Israelibacked Christian militia, two decades ago and alleged he tortured prisoners at the notorious Khiam military jail.
Along with thousands of SLA members, Fakhoury fled Lebanon when Israel withdrew in May 2000.
He entered Israel and shortly after moved to the US, where he opened a Lebanese restaurant in Dover, New Hampshire.
Fakhoury’s decision to visit Lebanon after 19 years came after assurances from the Lebanese presidency and the Lebanese army that he would not be harmed, the family said.
They said Lebanese President Michel Aoun told them the decision to arrest him had been Hezbollah’s.
Fakhoury was “brutally tortured by officials, employees and agents of Hezbollah”, the lawsuit says.
“The extreme physical abuse inflicted upon Amer Fakhoury during his imprisonment and torture by Hezbollah greatly injured his health and destroyed his immune system, resulting in the terminal disease from which he subsequently died.”
Fakhoury’s family denies he was involved in acts of torture while working at the Khiam prison.
“His position at the Khiam facility was purely logistical. His duties included clerical and quartermaster work, supplying food and essentials to the soldiers and prisoners stationed there,” the lawsuit says.
In similar cases, US courts have ruled in favour of plaintiffs by ordering Iran to pay billions of dollars in damages.
But Iran has never acknowledged or been represented at these cases.
In the case of the Robert Levinson disappearance, Iran was ordered to pay more than $1.4 billion to the family.
“It should not surprise that the case of an American citizen held hostage by a designated foreign terrorist group, which is in turn supported by a designated state sponsor of terrorism, should end up in federal court,” said Matthew Levitt, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Hezbollah was designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in 1997.
Iran was named as a state sponsor of terrorism by the US government in 1994.
The Lebanese General Security and Iran’s mission to the UN were not immediately available for comment when contacted by
We experienced how much Hezbollah influences every sector of the government
ZOYA FAKHOURY
Daughter of dead man