Kuwait flight hostages sue BA and UK government

Passengers and crew held hostage after a 1990 British Airways flight landed are suing the airline and the British government for “deliberately endangering” them.

They claim BA and the government knew Iraq had invaded Kuwait before the plane carrying them landed in the country.

The 367 passengers and crew of Flight BA 149 were taken hostage, some of whom were subjected to severe abuse, sexual assault and detention in conditions of near starvation.

The plaintiffs believed that those on board were in danger so the intelligence-gathering mission could take place, a claim that has been denied for 30 years.

Ninety-four people, including passengers or crew on Flight 149 or BA crew currently in Kuwait awaiting deployment, are behind the civil suit accusing the British government and BA of misconduct. negligent and jointly misbehaving in public office.

It is the latest step in a long battle to find answers about what happened during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

On the evening of 1 August 1990, BA Flight 149 took off from London Heathrow Airport with a planned stopover in Kuwait en route to Malaysia.

Iraqi troops had massed on the border with Kuwait ahead of the invasion of the country that night. But the flight did not divert from a stop in Kuwait.

Claimants said no other airlines allowed their planes to land after the invasion began. By the time Flight 149 landed on the morning of August 2, rockets were being fired near the airport as Iraqi forces took control.

The plane was evacuated and unable to take off. The people on the plane were taken hostage.

Some were quickly released, but others were mistreated and used by Iraq as human shields at key installations to try to prevent Western forces from bombing them.

Charlie Kristiansson, a flight attendant on the flight, told the BBC he was raped and used as a human shield by Iraqi troops.

“I was taken with the other crew and unmarried passengers to Shuwaikh Port. [in Kuwait City]. I was kept for about two months in a heavily guarded wooden house,” he said.

“There are ditches dug in the garden. We were told that if the British and Americans attacked on land, we would be killed and locked in a ditch.

“During that time, I was taken to a deserted area of ​​Kuwait City. At gunpoint, I was forced onto a tower and raped. Then I jumped off the tower.”

The hostages were released after five months. The claimants in the lawsuit say they all suffered severe physical and mental harm, the effects of which are still felt today.

Mr. Kristiansson said he was forced to leave the UK to recover from his injuries. He currently lives in Luxembourg.

He said he hoped the case would bring justice for him and the other hostages, and put an end to the “lies and deceptions” of the British government and BA.

At the heart of the complaint is the allegation that the British government and BA received a series of warnings overnight but failed to act.

It is thought that one reason for this was the government’s desire to bring in a team of special forces that could conduct reconnaissance in the country.

Stephen Davis wrote a book about the incident and said he interviewed members of the group anonymously.

He believes the authorities did not expect the airport to fall to invading Iraqi forces so quickly and the intention was to let the men off the plane before it continued on to its next destination.

BA’s cabin services director on the flight previously told the BBC that a British man in military uniform greeted him at the plane’s door upon landing in Kuwait.

The man said he had come to meet the 10 men on the flight who had boarded the plane at Heathrow. They were brought to the front, taken off the plane, and never seen again. But by then, it was too late for the plane to leave.

A British official serving at the Kuwait embassy at the time has previously said he believed there had been a “deniably” operation to rush troops into the field without full authorization. enough from the embassy.

Anthony Paice was responsible for political intelligence, a role believed to be a cover for MI6.

“I believe that military intelligence exploitation of British Airways Flight 149 took place, despite repeated official denials,” he told the BBC in his first interview of 2021.

In November 2021, the State Department admitted that Congress and the public had been lied to for decades about Flight 149.

Newly released files show that the British ambassador to Kuwait warned the Foreign Office about the invasion, but BA was not informed.

However, then-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reiterated previous denials that the flight was being used for a secret intelligence mission.

Matthew Jury, from the law firm behind the case, McCue Jury and Partners, said: “There must be closure and accountability to erase this shameful stain on the conscience of the UK.”

A Cabinet Office spokesman said the government does not comment on ongoing legal matters. BA did not respond to a request for comment.