经济学人94:阿拉伯银行 原告的长臂

 Arab Bank阿拉伯银行The long arm of the plaintiff原告的长臂American victims of terrorism sue a bank, claiming it abetted¹ attacks美国恐怖主义的受害者们控告一家银行，声称其支持恐怖袭击HAMAS, the Islamic militant² group that runs Gaza and conducts terrorist attacks in Israel, does not tend to answer court summons. But Arab Bank, one of the oldest financial institutions in the Middle East, does. This week, after a decade of legal toing and froing, it found itself on trial in Brooklyn, accused of complicity in various acts of terrorism by Hamas in which Americans were killed or injured. The victims and their families claim that Arab Bank “knowingly and purposefully” abetted the attacks by providing financial services to people and organisations linked to Hamas; Arab Bank denies the claim.

哈马斯，作为一个经营加沙地带穆斯林组织和在以色列引导恐怖袭击的恐怖组织，并没有表现出对法院传票有所回应的意思。但是阿拉伯银行，作为一家中东最为古老的的金融机构却对此做出了回应。本周，在经过了十年法律上的游走之后，他们由于被指控参与了导致了美国人受伤和被杀害的哈马斯所组织各式各样的恐怖行动与之共谋而正在布鲁克林受审。受害者及其家人声称阿拉伯银行“故意的以及有目的性”的通过为与哈马斯相关的人或者组织提供金融服务来支持恐怖行动。而阿拉伯银行否认了这项指控。

阿拉伯银行.jpgThe bank is being sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1990, whereby Americans can claim damages in federal court for injuries caused by terrorism anywhere in the world. The law was passed in response to the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound American who was shot and then tossed off an Italian cruise ship by Palestinian hijackers. In theory it provides broad scope for redress³, but in practice it has had little effect, as foreign terrorists are hard to bring to justice. Hence the plaintiffs' search for less elusive⁴ accomplices⁵.

银行是在1990年反恐法案的的背景下被起诉的，美国人可以在联邦法院因世界任何地方的恐怖主义要求损害赔偿。这项法律的通过是为了响应林霍夫谋杀案—一个被枪击的坐轮椅的美国人被巴基斯坦的劫机者弃尸在了一艘意大利的游轮上。随着犯罪嫌疑人的绳之以法，理论上说这本因受到大量的赔偿，但在实际中却是大大相反。因此原告开始寻找神出鬼没的同谋者。

The lawsuit⁶, which was first filed in 2004, originally involved only six families affected⁷ by Hamas attacks, including the parents of a two-year-old child killed in a bus bombing. But more victims have signed up: there are now 297 plaintiffs; and hundreds of other claims are pending⁸.

自2004年之后那些陆续录入档案的诉讼案件，最初仅仅包括被哈马斯恐怖袭击的影响的六个家庭，包括一对因汽车爆炸而丧生的两岁儿童的父母。但是现如今更多的受害者已经签署：现在已经有279名原告；以及其他数百名悬而未决的事件的受害者。

The plaintiffs accuse Arab Bank of having helped Hamas in three different ways. First, it transferred funds from the Saudi Committee, ostensibly a charity, to relatives of 55 suicide-bombers. One payment went to the family of a man who bombed a restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001, killing⁹ 15 people including seven children. Second, the bank maintained accounts for another dozen charities that the plaintiffs contend were merely fronts for Hamas. The final connection was by providing personal accounts for 30 senior members of Hamas, including Ahmad Yassin, the group's spiritual leader, who was designated a terrorist by the American government in 1995, and Salah Shehadeh, the founder¹⁰ of its military arm. Arab Bank did so, according to the court's summary of the plaintiffs' argument, despite knowing that the people and organisations concerned were involved in terrorism.

那些指控阿拉伯银行帮助哈马斯的原告主要是从三个方面的原因来谈的。首先，它以慈善的名义从沙特委员会划拨资金给55名自杀式炸弹袭击者的家属。其中一些款项就是流向一个在2001年炸了一家耶律撒冷餐馆导致包括七名孩子在内的十五人丧生的恐怖分子家属。其次，原告者认为银行所维系的另外十二个慈善机构的账户也仅仅是针对哈马斯方面的。他们终端的联系方式便是通过银行为三十名包括Ahmad Yassin在内的哈马斯的高级成员开设私人账户。而Ahmad Yassin作为哈马斯的精神领袖，于1995年被美国政府作为高危恐怖分子列入在册。这其中还包括Salah Shehadeh，哈马斯军事部门的创始人。根据法院对于原告的论点总结，阿拉伯银行尽管知道这些人或者组织与恐怖主义息息相关，却依旧如此作为。

The bank has denied each of the claims, contending that no services were provided to any entity¹¹ or person on America's list of known terrorists at the time, with the exception of a single transaction on behalf of Mr Yassin, due to a clerical error. It also points out that the transfers it made on behalf of the Saudi Committee were among the thousands the group made to the families of people hurt or killed in fighting in the West Bank and Gaza, and so appeared as humanitarian¹² in nature. The courts have barred Arab Bank from defending itself on the ground that it complied with all local laws in the countries where the transactions took place, or on the ground that the attacks are part of a long history of violence in the region for which it could not be held responsible.

银行否认了以上每条索赔要求，声称并没有为任何美国已知的恐怖分子名单上的实体或者个人提供服务，除了单个为了如Yassin先生所办理的交易，但这是由于笔误。它同样还指出其代表代表沙特委员会所作出的交易为了在约旦河西岸以及加沙地带战斗中受伤或者死者的家人所做的数以千计的交易之一，所以具有人道主义的性质。法院已经禁止了阿拉伯银行分别以其遵守了仲裁执行地国家的法律和袭击是发生在废弃责任区的历史暴力问题的一部分为由，进行自我辩护。

The main drama in the trial thus far has been the selection of the jury. Finding enough New Yorkers who are unopinionated and uninformed enough to form an unbiased panel has not been easy. No fewer than 500 candidates were required to complete a 25-page questionnaire to probe their suitability. It asked where they got their news, whether they spoke¹³ Arabic or Hebrew, what ties they and their friends and family had to the Middle East, and whether they knew any victims of terrorism, including the various attacks on New York. There were also questions not only about their own impressions of Muslims, Jews and Arabs, but also about those of their family and friends. Amazingly, this interrogation yielded ten apparently¹⁴ neutral jurors who will now sit through a trial that could last weeks or months.

这审判的主要的戏剧性是在于迄今为止这一直都是陪审团的选择。寻找足够的不是那么武断的足够无知纽约人来形成一个公正的团体也不是那么容易。不低于500名的候选者被要求完成一份25页的问卷调查他们的适应性。这份问卷调查他们获得新闻的来路，他们是否会说阿拉伯语或者是希伯来语，他们和他们的朋友家人是否和中东有所关系，以及他们是否认识任何恐怖主义的受害者，包括纽约的各种恐怖袭击。并且还有些问题不仅是关于他们自己对于穆斯林、犹太、以及阿拉伯的印象，并且还有他们的家人以及孩子对此的印象。令人惊奇的是，这种询问选出了十名看似中立陪审员，这些人现在将坐在那度过可能持续几周或几个月的审判。

1 abetted   

v.教唆（犯罪）( abet的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；怂恿；支持

参考例句：

• He was abetted in the deception by his wife. 他行骗是受了妻子的怂恿。
• They aided and abetted in getting the police to catch the thief. 他们协助警察抓住了小偷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 redress   

n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除

参考例句：

• He did all that he possibly could to redress the wrongs.他尽了一切努力革除弊端。
• Any man deserves redress if he has been injured unfairly.任何人若蒙受不公平的损害都应获得赔偿。

4 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

5 accomplices   

从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was given away by one of his accomplices. 他被一个同伙出卖了。
• The chief criminals shall be punished without fail, those who are accomplices under duress shall go unpunished and those who perform deeds of merIt'shall be rewarded. 首恶必办， 胁从不问，立功受奖。

6 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

12 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。