— PRESS RELEASE —

BA FLIGHT 149 HOSTAGES SEEK JUSTICE FROM BRITISH GOVERNMENT & BRITISH AIRWAYS

EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 ON 12 SEPTEMBER 2023

London, UK– BA Flight 149 victims from around the world, who were taken hostage in 1990 by Iraqi armed forces, are taking legal action against the British Government and British Airways for their alleged role in the ordeal that saw civilians used as human shields and subject to beatings, rape, mock executions, and starvation.

On the evening of 1 August 1990, British Airways Flight 149 took off from London Heathrow bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In the early hours of 2 August 1990, it landed at Kuwait International Airport for a scheduled refuelling. While in the air, Iraqi armed forces crossed into Kuwait and took the plane’s crew and passengers hostage to be used as human-shields against the Western military response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In captivity, they were subject to beatings, rape, mock executions, and starvation.

What the hostages now know is that evidence exists:

• The Government and British Airways knew the invasion had already begun but allowed BA149 to land anyway.
• They did so because the flight was being used to insert a black ops team of former  special  forces  and  security  services,  known  as  the  ‘Increment’,  into Kuwait for a special military operation.
• The safety and security of the crew was not a priority.

33 years later, after such evidence was released by the National Archives, the victims are taking legal action to ensure the truth is fully disclosed, those responsible are held to account, and due compensation is paid. Each of the hostages may claim an estimated average of £170,000 each in damages.

Matthew Jury, Managing Partner of McCue Jury & Partners said:

“The lives and safety of innocent civilians were sacrificed by the British government and British Airways for the sake of an off the books military operation. Both have concealed and denied the truth for more than thirty years. The victims and survivors of Flight BA149 deserve justice for being treated as disposable collateral. HMG and BA watched on as children were paraded as human shields by a merciless dictator yet did and admitted nothing. There must be closure and accountability to erase this shameful stain on the UK’s conscience.”

McCue Jury & Partners represent the hostages. They are appealing to anyone, from any country, who was a passenger or crew on BA149 or in Kuwait awaiting deployment to contact us at enquiries@mccue-law.com if they would like to be part of the claim. BA149 carried passengers from the UK, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, France, Spain, Germany, and Denmark.

QUOTES:

Barry Manners, Passenger, BA Flight 149 said:

“We were not treated as citizens, but as expendable pawns for commercial and political gain. A victory over years of cover up and bare faced denial will help restore trust in our political and judicial process.”

Nicola Dowling, Crew, BA Flight 149 said:

“When I was 22 years old, I was flown into a war zone by a company and government in who I had complete trust. For 33 years we have all had to live with the fallout whilst the horror of the event was brushed under the carpet by those who were complicit. To find out that we had been silenced with lies has been traumatising. Our story needs to be heard and those involved need to be held accountable.”

Jennifer Chappell, Passenger, BA Flight 149 said:

“I was 12 when we were landed in Kuwait. It was the beginning of a waking nightmare   that has yet to end to this day.   I saw, experienced and was made to understand truths  about life no-one so young should. The experience and it’s aftermath have left me with significant mental health conditions that have robbed me of any chance to achieve my expected potential: GCSEs, A-levels, Degree and a professional career and all that that would have provided me with.

The chance to finally receive justice after all these years is a turning point for me. It would be the start of the healing for all the hurts of what happened and how the Government and BA treated us since.

I feel angry that it has taken so long to be heard and that so many have suffered unbearably as a result. I also feel profoundly sad that all my adult years have been overshadowed and marred by ‘Kuwait 1990’.”

Dr Paul Dieppe, Passenger, BA Flight 149 said:

“The effect on my family is my big problem. My father died whilst I was a hostage, perhaps partly due to that. My mother was never the same. My wife and two teenage daughters, left in the UK, were severely traumatised. We were all irrevocably changed.

Some progress towards a form of closure would help us, and other loved ones.”

Stephen Davis, investigative journalist and author of The Secret History of Flight 149

said:

“Passengers from a dozen countries on British Airways 149 were delivered into the hands of Saddam Hussein on a flight that never should have landed in Kuwait. They were the victims of war crimes – including sexual assaults – that were then covered up by the British Government. They have been lied to and denied justice ever since. They are owed an apology and compensation for the actions of the Government and BA which has left many of them traumatised to this day.”

PLEASE REVIEW NOTES TO EDITOR ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE

NOTES TO EDITOR:

1. On 1 August 1990, BA 149 was scheduled to travel from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur, via Kuwait. It was carrying approximately 385 passengers and crew. BA 149 departed Heathrow later, at 18.04 GMT.
2. At 22.00 GMT, Iraqi forces crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait. Unlike other flights in the air that night, BA 149 was not diverted away from Kuwait. At 00:00, the British Ambassador in Kuwait confirmed to Her Majesty’s Government that an invasion had taken place and parts of Kuwait had already been occupied. The flight landed at 1.13am, and the hostages were taken thereafter.
3. The UK Government and British Airways have always maintained that they did not know about the invasion until it was too late, and there was nothing they could have done to prevent the hostages from being taken. However, documents released to the National Archives in 2021, along with contemporaneous witness evidence and the investigative journalism of Stephen DAVIS has confirmed that:
   1. The British Government ignored repeated warnings that an invasion was imminent. They were alerted that the invasion had begun at 00:00 at the very latest. One hour and thirteen minutes before it landed. This call was never acknowledged by the Government at the time, nor did it have procedures in place to protect those at risk; and
   1. The flight was exploited for the purposes of inserting a British black-ops team into Kuwait.
4. All but 9 of BA 149’s passengers were taken hostage. The flight had been delayed at Heathrow, ostensibly for technical reasons. However, there is evidence to show that the delay was exploited for military reasons so that team of former Special Forces soldiers and an intelligence officer could be inserted into the flight, which would provide civilian cover. Passengers reported seeing a group of around 9 military-looking men board the plane during the delay at Heathrow only to disembark as soon as it landed at Kuwait International.
5. The hostages were subjected to mental and physical abuse by members of the Iraqi forces, including sexual assault. They were kept in poor living conditions with inadequate food and witnessed various atrocities during their detention,

such as attacks made upon Kuwaiti citizens by Iraqi forces. Some hostages were held for up to 5 months.

• The claim will be brought in the High Court in London.