Nepalese sue US company over Iraq

Relatives of 12 Nepalis hostages assassinated in Iraq have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the US company KBR, which apparently promised the Nepalis hotel jobs in Amman, Jordan..

A Nepali and the relatives of the 12 Nepalese labourers filed the lawsuit on charges of human trafficking, for allegedly tricking the men into working in Iraq, the AFP reported on Thursday.

A statement issued by Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, one of the law firms handling the case, read that once the Nepalese workers arrived in Jordan their passports were seized, and they were told they were being sent to Iraq "to provide menial labor" at the Al-Asad Air Base.

An Islamist group called the Army of Ansar al-Sunna took the Nepalese workers hostage as they entered Iraq around August 20 in 2004 and announced, “We have carried out the sentence of God against 12 Nepalis who came from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians . . . believing in Buddha as their God.”

Nepal itself saw protests followed by riots for almost a week after a video was posted on a website showing an Iraqi militant beheading one of the men with a knife and shooting 11 other in the back lying face down.

One of the Nepali workers Buddi Prasad Gurung, who was in the same caravan as the 12 Nepalese, was left behind at the check point. He arrived at the US military site in August 2004, where he worked in a KBR warehouse.

"For 15 months, Mr. Gurung was held in Iraq against his will, before KBR and Daoud allowed him to return home to Nepal," according to the statement.

The plaintiffs "allege that the illicit trafficking scheme -- from their recruitment in Nepal to their eventual employment in Iraq -- was engineering by KBR and its subcontractor," identified as Daoud & Partners, the statement further read.

KBR, formerly known as Kellogg Brown & Root -- a former subsidiary of the Halliburton energy firm which was once led by US Vice President Dick Cheney, was at the time the largest contractor servicing the US military in Iraq.

On March 25 and April 16, the US Administrative Law Court for the Department of Labour ordered the monthly payment of 233 US dollars in compensation to each spouse and set of parents of the murdered 12 Nepalis hostages with an additional 75 dollars for men who had children. The Court also confirmed that a US subcontractor had employed the 12 Nepalis who were killed in Iraq in August 2004.

A Nepalese man and relatives of 12 others who were killed in Iraq four years ago are suing American firm KBR on charges of human trafficking.

The men were recruited in Nepal to work in a hotel in Jordan, but were later told they would have to work at a US air base in Iraq, their lawyers said.

Twelve of the men were kidnapped and killed by Islamic militants while being transported inside Iraq.

The 13th man was made to work against his will at the air base, lawyers said.

The execution-style killing of the hostages was recorded by the extremists and posted on a website.

The incident sparked riots in Nepal with angry demonstrators targeting a mosque, some government buildings and offices of employment agencies.

At least two people were killed in the protests.

'Passports seized'

The lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday alleged "that the illicit trafficking scheme... was engineering by KBR and its subcontractor", identified as Daoud & Partners.

The men, between the ages of 18 and 27, were recruited "to work as kitchen staff in hotels and restaurants in Amman, Jordan", said a statement from Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, one of the law firms handling the case.