By Bernard Vaughan and Joseph Ax
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. jury said on Monday Arab Bank Plc provided material support to Hamas, and must therefore compensate the victims of two dozen attacks the Islamic militant group allegedly carried out in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Jurors needed less than two days to deliberate, following a six-week trial in Brooklyn federal court that lawyers described as the first terrorism financing civil case to reach trial in the United States.
Nearly 300 Americans who were either victims or related to victims of the attacks had sued Arab Bank in 2004, accusing it of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act, which lets victims of U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations seek damages. A trial on damages will be scheduled for a later date.
The plaintiffs had accused the Jordan-based bank of knowingly maintaining accounts for Hamas operatives, and financing millions in payments for the families of suicide bombers and those imprisoned or injured during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000.
The case is Linde et al. v. Arab Bank, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, No. 04-2799.
(Reporting by Bernard Vaughan and Joseph Ax; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Richard Chang)
