Aircraft Landing Despite Knowledge of Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait: Case Revisited After 34 Years
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| An abandoned Iraqi military tank lies on the battlefield in Kuwait. |
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait under the leadership of President Saddam Hussein. During this period, a British Airways flight carrying several hundred passengers was taken hostage in Kuwait. The passengers and crew on that aircraft were used as 'human shields'. Thirty-four years later, the passengers and crew are suing British Airways and the UK government for their ordeal.
The incident occurred on August 2, 1990. The British Airways flight, en route to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, carried 367 passengers and 18 crew members. The flight landed at Kuwait International Airport for a scheduled stopover, making it the last commercial flight to land there before the Iraqi forces attacked Kuwait.
The passengers and crew were held hostage for nearly five months, during which they endured various forms of torture, including incidents of rape and starvation. Documents released from the UK National Archives reveal that the British ambassador to Kuwait had prior knowledge of the impending invasion and had warned the UK Foreign Ministry before the flight landed. In 2021, then British Foreign Secretary and later Prime Minister, Liz Truss, acknowledged that the ambassador's warning had been covered up by the British government for decades.
Liz Truss also stated that the Foreign Office did not inform British Airways of the attack on Kuwait. Addressing the allegation that special forces soldiers were secretly on the flight, she said, "Whatever the circumstances, the government did not want to use a passenger flight in such a way." Nevertheless, a group of special forces soldiers was indeed secretly flown to Kuwait on that flight.
One of the cabin crew members on that flight was Nicola Dowling, then 23 and now 56. Nicola was held hostage in Kuwait for about two months, during which he was used as a human shield. Reflecting on the ordeal, Nicola said, "Knowing that the issue of justice has been covered up for so many years is despicable." He criticized then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, saying, "Saddam Hussein hid behind women and children, and it was all very well for Margaret Thatcher. She sent us there on purpose. She is equally responsible for this, just like Saddam Hussein and British Airways."
Nicola, who had joined British Airways a year and a half prior, described being sent to an army camp as a human shield. "They stopped in the middle of a desert," he recalled. "The soldiers surrounded our bus and pointed guns through the windows. There was silence all around. Even the children stopped crying. We thought we were going to be shot. I thought it was the beginning of the end. But the shooting did not happen. To this day, I do not understand why they stopped the bus in the middle of the desert and pointed guns at us."
Nicola mentioned that expatriate British nationals were also detained in that camp, where conditions were inhumane and terrible. "Excrement was everywhere. Food and water were scarce. Some had diarrhea." Upon his release, Nicola was extremely disappointed with British Airways' response. He said that after his release, he was pressured to return to work quickly due to a cabin crew crisis and the resumption of flights to the Middle East. Despite repeatedly requesting not to be assigned to Middle East flights, he was threatened with dismissal if he did not comply. Consequently, he continued working for British Airways for 15 more years, with monthly assignments to the Middle East. Eventually, he retired on a 'medical pension' like many of his colleagues on that flight, describing the experience as "torture."
Nicola, along with 95 passengers and crew from that flight, filed a lawsuit against the UK Foreign Ministry, Cabinet Department, Ministry of Defense, and British Airways for negligence and failure to fulfill their duties. Reflecting on the incident's impact on his life, Nicola said, "This incident has had a great impact on my life."
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