Iran ordered to pay $323m to former hostage

Iran has been ordered to pay $323m in damages to a former US hostage because of evidence it directed terrorists to kidnap Americans in Lebanon during the mid-1980s.

A US federal judge in Washington DC ruled that the country would have to pay $323m after Thomas Sutherland, now 70, was abducted from Lebanon and held captive for six years.

Mr Sutherland was serving as an administrator at the American University of Beirut when he was abducted. US District Judge Royce C Lamberth said evidence showed Sutherland was routinely held in a tiny cage, starved, beaten and psychologically abused.

Lamberth also ordered Iran to pay $29.5m to Sutherland's wife and daughters.

The State Department has long accused Iran of supporting terrorist groups such as the Islamic Jihad, which was blamed for kidnapping about 20 Americans and other Westerners during the mid-1980s.

Eight American terrorist victims or their families have won sizeable judgments since passage of a 1996 law that permits lawsuits against countries identified by the State Department as sponsors of international terrorism.

Iran is among seven countries on the list. Iran has paid no money in damages but a law passed last year allows hostages to receive partial awards from the US. Under the law, Sutherland would be eligible for about $50m.