A US court has dashed the hopes of the families of 12 Nepalis killed in Iraq in 2004 to get justice by dismissing the case they had filed against the US military contractor.

A Federal Judge of Texas, Keith Ellison, had earlier decided to allow the case to move ahead, as it appeared to include genuine allegations of “forced labour or trafficking”, the Mint Press News reported on its online edition on Monday.

But last month, Judge Ellison reversed his earlier decision, stating that he had made a mistake in his legal reasoning, as a central piece of anti-trafficking legislation, passed in 2008, could not be applied retroactively to a crime that took place outside US territory, according to the report.

Ramchandra Adhikari had filed the case in Texas Federal Court against US contracting company KBR. KBR is a Houston-based American engineering, construction and private military contracting company, which had hired 13 Nepalis through Daoud & Private to work for its Al Asad air base, then the US military’s second largest base in Iraq.

An official at the Embassy of Nepal in Washington DC told THT that the mission was aware of the ruling and was reviewing it.

The victims’ families will appeal the decision at a higher court, the online reported.

In early 2004, 13 Nepali labourers were recruited to work in Jordan by Daoud & Partners, with most being told they were to work at a luxury hotel. Instead Daoud allegedly confiscated their passports and transferred the men to the war zone, ferrying them into Iraq in unprotected vehicles.

En route to the base, the vehicles were ambushed by the Ansar al-Sunna militants. The militants kidnapped and subsequently killed 12 of the 13 Nepali men on August 31, 2004.

According to the report, the victims’ families, along with the lone survivor, Buddi Prasad Gurung, have alleged that D&P “established, engaged and contracted with a network of suppliers, agents and partners to procure labourers from third world countries.”

Published on: 12 February 2014 | The Himalayan Times