Letter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
June 30, 2003
The Honorable Colin L. Powell
Secretary of State
The State Department
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Powell:
I am writing today to respectfully request that the State Department facilitate giving the families of victims of an Iranian-sponsored terrorist hijacking 18 years ago access to seized Iranian assets as compensation for their losses.
As you know, four Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists held four Americans and nearly 200 other passengers hostage in a Kuwaiti airliner on a runway in Iran for six days in December 1984. Two Americans who worked for the AID division of the State Department, Charles F. Hegna and William L. Stanford, were killed by the terrorists and were thrown onto the tarmac. One of the two surviving Americans on the plane - John Costa - was a New Yorker who later reported he was he was bound with ropes, beaten, kicked, abused, and burned with cigarettes and a cigarette lighter during the hostage ordeal.
Charles Hegna's widow Edwena Hegna sued and won a $42 million court judgment against the government of Iran. After Congress passed a law in 1998 that let families of terror victims seize assets of rogue states that have been frozen in the United States, Mrs. Hegna moved to seize 13 Iranian-owned properties across the country. It is my understanding that the State Department has opposed this move in court.
As you may know, some have speculated that the United States government wants to keep Iranian assets in America intact to facilitate any diplomatic attempts to renew relations with a government of Iran. While it is certainly possible that one day we will restore diplomatic relations with a government of Iran, this possibility is outweighed by the certainty that American families have suffered from the past actions of Iran. I therefore respectfully request that the State Department allow Mrs. Hegna a measure of justice for her husband's murder by permitting her access to seized Iranian assets within the United States.
Thank you for your attention to the matter.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator