This archive report was first published on 23 May 2020.
The US Supreme Court's ruling on Monday has left Sudan's decision on compensating victims of the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Dar es Salaam uncertain. The court re-imposed a 2011 lower court award of $10.2 billion in damages, including $4.3 billion in punitive damages.
According to the Sudanese Ministry of Justice, the ruling did not confirm the demand for more compensation to the plaintiffs under state law. The Ministry stated that the ruling is a reinstatement of a lower court decision that had 'refrained from commenting on the validity of imposing punitive compensation under state law on the government of Sudan.'
The bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam killed 224 people, with Al Qaeda claiming responsibility and Sudan being fingered for aiding militants to cross into Kenya. The case has been ongoing since 1993, when Washington included Sudan as a sponsor of terrorism due to its harbouring of Osama bin Laden.
The US Supreme Court's decision was unanimous, with eight judges voting to overturn a lower court decision from 2017 that pardoned Sudan of disciplinary damages. The case depended on the opinion of the Supreme Court in a 2008 amendment of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which allows for disciplinary compensation.
