Judge Says Terror Victims Can’t Claim Museums’ Iranian Items

Ruling in a case that has been closely watched by museum officials nationwide, a federal judge said Friday that survivors of a 1997 terrorist bombing cannot seize Persian antiquities from two Chicago institutions to pay a $412-million judgment against Iran for its role in the attack, the Associated Press reports.

With Iran having few assets in the United States, victims of the suicide bombing in Jerusalem took the unusual step of going after thousands of Persian relics in the collections of the Field Museum of Natural History and the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. Judge Robert Gettleman said the plaintiffs did not prove the Field’s artifacts belong to the Iranian government. He also ruled that the items on loan to the Oriental Institute are not commercial assets.

In a prior ruling, a Washington, D.C., judge found Iran complicit in the 1997 bombing because it provided money and training for Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that claimed responsibility for the attack. American museums feared that a ruling against the Field and the Oriental Institute could set a precedent that puts their collections at risk.

Attorneys for the Chicago museums said they expect the plaintiffs to appeal to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.