Canada grants frozen Iranian assets to American families

A Canadian court awarded $13 million worth of frozen Iranian assets in Canada to the families of American victims of attacks allegedly carried out by Palestine's Hamas and Lebanon's Hizballah.

The judgement, obtained by AFP on Friday, found Iran responsible for training those who allegedly stand behind eight bombings and hostage-taking incidents in Buenos Aires, Israel, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia from 1983 to 2002.

The court ruled for Iran's non-diplomatic land and bank accounts in Canada to be handed over as compensation to the American victims' families.

"The broad issue before the court is whether Iran is entitled to immunity from the jurisdiction of Canadian courts for its support of terrorism," Ontario Superior Court Justice Glenn Hainey said in his decision.

The families, led by the parents of Marla Bennett, who was killed when a suicide bomber struck at a cafeteria at Hebrew University in Israel in 2002, had successfully sued the Islamic republic in the United States.

Iran called the decision "a theft" of assets and properties and pledged to battle the verdict in international courts.

The Canadian lawsuits were brought under a relatively new law passed in 2012 that allows victims and their families to collect damages from state sponsors of terrorism.

The ruling comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government seeks to re-establish diplomatic ties with Iran, and following Tehran's detention of a Montreal professor, Homa Hoodfar, without charges. 

Hoodfar, 65, has published several works on women and society in Islamic countries and was present in Iran to research women's public role.

She was arrested on 10 March a few days before her planned return to Canada.

Her belongings were searched and she was held pending interrogation, the sources said.

Her passport was taken, and Hoodfar was interrogated, family spokeswoman Amanda Ghahremani said.

The Canadian government has said it is actively engaged in the case. 

Agencies contributed to this report