Johnny Isakson: “I rise on January 20, 2016, on the floor of the Senate to acknowledge this day as the 35th anniversary of the return of…”

“I rise on January 20, 2016, on the floor of the Senate to acknowledge this day as the 35th anniversary of the return of 53 Americans by the Iranian Government to the shores of the United States of America after captivity for 444 days in Iran. As the Members of the Senate will remember, they were employees of the U.S. Embassy in Iran who were brutally attacked, sent through mock executions, subjected to beatings, subjected to brainwashing, subjected to torture, and for 444 days were out of communication with their loved ones and our country. Fortunately, we successfully negotiated their release, and on January 20, 1981, they were released back to the United States. But that release included the execution of the Algerian Accords between the United States and the Iranians, which prohibited any hostage from suing the nation of Iran for compensation for their captivity. Since that release, many Americans in the House of Representatives and the Senate, including myself, have worked hard to try to right that wrong. I am very pleased to acknowledge that under the passage of the omnibus in December, we were able to secure funding to be able to compensate those hostages as they should have been compensated 35 years ago. We were able to take money from the Paribas bank forfeiture of Iranian funds to the U.S. Government to see to it that they were compensated in some measure for the sacrifice they made for our country.…”