A law company announced on Monday that the British government and the airline are facing legal action from the passengers and crew of a British Airways flight that was kidnapped in Kuwait in 1990.
On August 2, that year, hours after Iraq’s then-leader Saddam Hussein invaded the nation, BA flight 149 touched down in the Gulf state. People on board were pulled off the jet that was headed for Kuala Lumpur.
During the first Gulf War, some of the 367 passengers and crew members were held captive for more than four months, serving as human shields to protect the troops of the Iraqi tyrant from Western attacks.
According to McCue Jury & Partners, 94 of them have filed a civil action in the High Court in London, alleging that BA and the British government “deliberately endangering” people.
“All of the claimants suffered severe physical and psychiatric harm during their ordeal, the consequences of which are still felt today,” the law firm added.
The action claims that the UK government and the airline “knew the invasion had started” but allowed the flight to land anyway.
They did so because the flight was used to “insert a covert special ops team into occupied Kuwait”, the firm 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 is taking part in the claim.
“A victory over years of cover-up and bare-faced denial will help restore trust in our political and judicial process,” he added.
Documents from the British government, made public in November 2021, showed that, prior to the aircraft’s landing, the UK ambassador in Kuwait notified London of reports of an Iraqi incursion; however, BA was not notified of this information.
There have also been allegations—refuted by the government—that London purposefully endangered passengers by sending undercover agents on the flight and delaying takeoff so they could board.
With regard to pending legal matters, the UK government declined to comment.
British Airlines has consistently refuted claims of incompetence, collusion, and dissembly.
A request for comment from AFP was not answered by the airline, but it did state last year that the 2021 documents “confirmed British Airways was not warned about the invasion”.
McCue Jury & Partners had announced in September its intention to file the suit, 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 flight’s French hostages, saying it had “seriously failed in its obligations” to them by landing the plane.
