The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday that it has paid out more than $800 million from a Congressionally-created fund to compensate thousands of American victims of international terrorist acts dating back decades.
Among the 2,332 claimants were Americans held hostage by Iran from 1979 to 1981 as well as victims of the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund was set up by Congress in 2015 and is administered by the Justice Department's Criminal Division. Congress authorized the department to deposit into the fund certain forfeiture proceeds, penalties and fines that come from civil and criminal matters involving prohibited transactions with state sponsors of terrorism.
Congress originally appropriated $1.025 billion for payments to victims, and recent Justice Department prosecutions and U.S. government enforcement actions have increased the total available for initial payments to more than $1.1 billion, the statement said.
“Through this program, we will continue to be resolute in our commitment to victims of state sponsored terrorism and aggressively search for illicit funds and assets to compensate them for their losses,” Acting Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Division Kenneth Blanco said in a statement.
美国司法部周四表示，已经从国会创建的基金中支付了8亿多美元，用于赔偿过去数十年来在国际恐怖主义行为中受害的数千名美国人。
司法部在一份声明中表示，在2,332名得到赔偿的人中，有在1979到1981年被伊朗扣为人质的美国人，以及1998年基地组织对美国驻肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚大使馆发动爆炸袭击的受害者。
美国的国家恐怖主义受害者基金会是国会在2015年设立的，由司法部的刑事部门管理。国会授权司法部向该基金会存入在与国家支持的恐怖主义民事和刑事案件有关的被禁交易中一些被没收的收益和罚款。
声明说，国会最初拨款十亿零二千五百万美元用于支付受害人，最近司法部的诉讼和美国政府的执法行动将最初付款总额增加到超过11亿美元。
代理助理司法部长肯尼思·布兰科在一份声明中表示：“通过这一计划，我们将继续坚定致力于帮助国家支持的恐怖主义受害者，并积极寻找非法资金和资产来弥补他们的损失。“