Court Orders Airline to Pay Gulf Hostages
A French court has ordered British Airways to pay cash damages to 61 French passengers who were held hostage by Iraqi troops after their jet landed in Kuwait the day the Gulf War began.
The airline is “entirely responsible” for the unscheduled stop on Aug. 2, 1990, the day Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Paris tribunal said Wednesday.
The Iraqis who controlled the airport took the plane’s 360 passengers and crew hostage.
Some were held for up to three months.
The passengers accused the airline of making the stop to drop off British commandos--a charge the airline and the British government have denied.
Most of the hostages were used by the Iraqis as human shields.
The civil court ordered the airline to pay $80,000 to those who were held a month, and $120,000 to those held three months.
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