Securing Justice For U.S. Victims Of State-sponsored Terrorism

PUBLIC AFFAIRS, MEDIA RELATIONS, & ADVOCACY

Marathon works to support advocacy efforts for victims of state-sponsored terrorism.

The Challenge

Marathon Strategies works to support advocacy efforts for victims and families of state-sponsored terrorism, who have worked for decades to hold the nations behind international state-sponsored terrorist attacks, such as the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Nairobi, responsible for the attacks on American citizens and secure justice for the victims. While these “forgotten victims” and their families had won billions of dollars in federal court judgments against the nations responsible for such attacks, they had yet to receive compensation and secure justice from those nations despite decades of activism.

Our Approach 

We work closely with the victims and their families to help publicly share their stories through op-eds and news coverage in influential national and Beltway media outlets to bring renewed attention to these forgotten victims of terror and urge Congress to take action.

The Impact

The victims’ stories were covered in top-tier publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC, USA Today, Politico, and NJ.com. Our efforts proved successful: In December 2015, Congress passed legislation to create a victims’ compensation pool funded by seized assets of the nations behind the attacks, achieving justice for the victims and their families after their decades-long fight.

Since then, we have continued to work with victims of the August 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, seeking to hold Sudan accountable for its role in those attacks. This included developing and placing an op-ed in The Washington Post aimed at generating increased awareness of a proposed landmark diplomatic settlement. Additionally, we organized and moderated a media roundtable in advance of the 22-year anniversary of the bombings that was attended by top-tier reporters and resulted in several prominent news placements, including in The Washington Post, CNN and ABC, as well as an editorial by The Wall Street Journal.

Marathon’s digital advertising for the campaign was awarded a 2021 Gold Pollie by the American Association of Political Consultants.