After humanitarian trip, Sacks was ordered to pay $10,000

Published on Thursday, January 15, 2004
by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A retired engineer is suing the U.S. government after being fined $10,000 for making a humanitarian trip to take medical supplies to Iraq.

Bertram Sacks, a 61-year-old Seattle resident who has made nine such trips since 1996, filed a 40-page lawsuit in U.S. District Court yesterday, alleging that the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control overstepped its authority, violated the U.S. Constitution and flouted international law when it penalized him for humanitarian missions.

Since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the United States has imposed economic sanctions on that country that have slowed the delivery of food and medicine and had a “devastating humanitarian impact” on civilians there, Sacks’ lawsuit says.