A U.S. court ruled that the Iranian government must pay more than $1.4 billion to the family of former FBI agent and CIA contractor Robert Levinson, who disappeared while visiting an Iranian island some 13 years ago.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said Thursday in a decision out of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the Iranian regime is ordered to pay Levinson’s family $107 million in compensatory damages and $1.3 billion in punitive damages, Reuters reported on Monday.
Levinson disappeared during a 2007 visit to Kish Island, which is under the auspices of Iran. It is believed that Levinson was taken hostage by Iranian authorities and held for years, although Iran has denied that is the case.
Levinson’s family announced earlier in 2020 that they believed he had been killed at the hands of the regime. His family released a statement praising the judge’s ruling, saying they “intend to find any and every avenue, and pursue all options, to seek justice for Robert Levinson.”
“This 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,” Levinson’s family said. “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.”
In March, Levinson’s widow, Christine Levinson, released a statement signed by other members of his family, noting the family’s belief that Levinson died in Iranian custody prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We recently received information from U.S. officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody,” she wrote. “We don’t know when or how he died, only that it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Despite the claim by Levinson’s family, President Trump said he is not certain that the former FBI agent is, in fact, dead.
“I don’t accept that he’s dead,” Trump said during a March news briefing. “It’s not looking great. They haven’t told us that he’s dead, but a lot of people think that’s the case. I feel badly about it.”
Levinson became the longest-held hostage in U.S. history in 2013.
