A group of staff and passengers who were taken hostage during the first Gulf War are taking action against the government and British Airways.
They believe that Flight 149 was allowed to land in order to insert a covert special operations team in Kuwait in August 1990. The group of 94 passengers and former crew argue that their lives and safety were put at risk by the move.
Prior to the flight landing at Kuwait International Airport, neighbouring Iraq had launched a full-scale invasion of Kuwait some hours before, and had taken control of the airport.
The flight had left Heathrow bound for Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, with a scheduled refuelling stop in Kuwait.
Corporate governance
Once in occupied Kuwait, passengers and crew were taken hostage, where they endured a range of abuses, including allegations that they were used as human shields against coalition forces, and subject to rape and starvation.
The group is preparing a civil action in the High Court against the Foreign Office, Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence and British Airways.
Lawyers have sent letters before action for negligence and “joint misfeasance in public office”.
Files released by the National Archive in 2021 showed that Sir Michael Weston, the British ambassador to Kuwait at the time, had called the Foreign Office to warn that Iraqi forces had crossed the border before the flight landed.
The government has previously denied that the flight was carrying British special forces carrying out a covert operation.
According to their lawyers, when the hostages were freed after five months in captivity, many of the BA employees were forced to take medical pensions because their employer failed to make workplace adjustments for the trauma they had endured.
Matthew Jury, of McCue & Partners, the law firm making the claim, said: “The lives and safety of innocent civilians were put at risk by the British government and British Airways for the sake of an off-the-books military operation.
“Both have, we believe, concealed and denied the truth for more than 30 years. There must be closure and accountability to erase this shameful stain on the UK’s conscience.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson told the Times newspaper that the government would not comment about continuing legal matters.
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