The lawsuit claims the UK government and the airline “knew the invasion had begun”
London:
Passengers and crew on a British Airways flight who were taken hostage in Kuwait in 1990 have launched legal action against the UK government and the airline, a law firm said on Monday.
The people on BA Flight 149 were removed from the Kuala Lumpur-bound plane when it landed in the Gulf state on August 2 of that year, hours after Iraq’s then leader, Saddam Hussein, invaded the country.
Some of the 367 passengers and crew spent more than four months in captivity, including as human shields against Western attacks on the Iraqi dictator’s troops during the first Gulf War.
Ninety-four of them filed a civil lawsuit in London’s High Court, accusing the British government and BA of “deliberately endangering” civilians, McCue Jury & Partners said.
“All of the claimants suffered serious physical and psychiatric harm during their ordeal, the consequences of which are still felt today,” the law firm added.
The lawsuit claims that the UK government and the airline “knew the invasion had begun” but allowed the flight to land anyway.
They did so because the flight was used to “insert a secret special operations team into occupied Kuwait”, the company added.
“We were not treated as citizens, but as expendable pawns for commercial and political gain,” said Barry Manners, who was on the flight and participating in the demand.
“A victory over years of cover-up and open denial will help restore trust in our political and judicial process,” he added.
British government files released in November 2021 revealed that the UK ambassador to Kuwait informed London of reports of an Iraqi incursion before the flight landed, but the message was not passed on to BA.
There were also allegations, denied by the government, that London knowingly put passengers at risk by using the flight to send undercover agents and delaying take-off to allow them to board.
The UK government declined to comment on ongoing legal matters.
British Airways has always denied allegations of negligence, conspiracy and cover-up.
The airline did not respond to a request for comment from AFP, but said last year that records released in 2021 “confirmed that British Airways was not warned about the hack”.
McCue Jury & Partners announced in September its intention to file the lawsuit, saying then that the hostages “may claim an estimated average of £170,000 ($213,000) each in damages.”
In 2003, a French court ordered BA to pay 1.67 million euros to the French hostages on the flight, saying it had “seriously failed in its obligations” to them by grounding the plane.
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