40 years later, a dwindling band of Iran hostages awaits a promised payment
Nearly 35 years had passed, so long since the homecoming for the 52 Americans taken hostage by Iranian militants that the group had dwindled to 39, when what felt like a measure of justice was finally delivered.
It was late 2015, and a law signed by President Barack Obama promised restitution to the former hostages whose 444-day ordeal began with the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
But the full promised payments of up to $4.44 million — $10,000 for each day of captivity — never came. Hostages or their families have received only a small portion from a special fund that administrators now say is out of money. There will be no payments for 2022.
It’s now more than 40 years since their release. The group of surviving hostages is down to 35, and the losses are coming faster now. Two died this month, including former Army medic Donald Hohman last week.
“We are not getting any younger,” said David M. Roeder, 82, who is among those imploring President Biden to step in.
The retired Air Force colonel, who was a military attache at the embassy, was the lead plaintiff in years of unsuccessful litigation against Iran. The hostages sought to get around the terms of their 1981 release, a deal brokered by Algeria that freed the hostages on President Ronald Reagan’s first day in office but barred legal claims.
The State Department fought the former hostages in court, on the grounds that the United States sticks by the terms of diplomatic deals even when it might wish otherwise. Court after court ruled against the erstwhile captives.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/26/40-years-later-dwindling-band-iran-hostages-awaits-promised-payment/
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