http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1859470,00.html Payouts denied to UK terror victims abroad
Mark Townsend, legal affairs correspondent Sunday August 27, 2006 <http://www.observer.co.uk/> The Observer British holidaymakers will not receive compensation if they are injured in a future terrorist attack overseas, the government has ruled - a decision that contradicts assurances from Tony Blair that he was seeking to extend the amount of money given to UK victims abroad. Lawyers representing British victims of last summer's attacks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh said the move will discriminate against those caught up in incidents abroad compared with those wounded in terrorist attacks in this country. Critics believe that the UK government's foreign policy has made Britons travelling abroad a target for terrorists. Many European countries, including France and Italy, provide compensation schemes for nationals affected by terrorism regardless of where in the world they were injured. Whitehall officials confirmed to The Observer that the government had 'ruled out' compensation for UK terror victims abroad. The decision will be confirmed by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell when Parliament reconvenes in October. Last October Blair told the Commons that 'officials are considering the possibility of introducing a scheme for providing compensation, for example to UK victims of terrorism, wherever that may happen'. However, ministers will announce this autumn that Britons injured in an attack abroad will, rather than receiving compensation, qualify for a modest one-off payment of as little as a few thousand pounds - a sum that is meant to help victims and their families cope in the immediate aftermath of an attack. By contrast, victims seriously injured in last year's London suicide attacks are eligible for compensation up to £500,000, with the government currently looking to increase the maximum payout to £1m. The Home Office is shortly to announce its decision on the increased compensation packages for victims injured in the UK, a move that will only heighten the frustration among families of those injured abroad. Last July, terrorists killed 11 Britons in Sharm el-Sheikh while 28 died during the Bali bombings in 2002. Yasmin Waljee, who manages pro bono work at London-based law firm Lovells, said: 'Many families are having to cope with the same extensive injuries as those who were injured in the dreadful incidents on 7 July. These injuries will have a long-term impact on their lives. Those injured in Bali, Sharm el-Sheikh and other incidents will be devastated.' A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: 'This is not a compensation scheme. It is... a one-off payment to deal with the needs of people in the aftermath of such a horrific incident.' · Fears of bank holiday travel chaos failed to materialise yesterday as Britain's major airports coped with tight security checks despite huge passenger numbers. Heathrow, which expects to deal with 850,000 holidaymakers over the bank holiday, said 'everything was back to normal' while Gatwick said operations were running smoothly. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
