The U.S. embassy in Rome has confirmed that the Obama Administration will pay $1.32 million to the family of Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian worker who was being held hostage by al Qaeda at the time of his death, The Guardian reported on Friday.
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Mr. Weinstein’s widow said in a statement that she was heartened to hear that the Lo Porto family had reached a settlement with the USA government.
“As we acknowledged previous year, a USA government counterterrorism operation killed two innocent hostages held by Al Qaeda, Dr Warren Weinstein… and Giovanni Lo Porto”, said White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price.
Documents quoted by the Italian daily La Repubblica this week show that the U.S. government signed an agreement with the Lo Porto family on July 8, to pay a total of 1,185,000 euros ($1.32 million) as a “donation in the memory of Giovanni Lo Porto”.
But the payment was described as “a donation in memory” of the victim rather than as compensation. The White House asserted that while the deaths of Weinstein and Lo Porto were a national tragedy, it followed proper protocol while carrying out the mission. According to La Repubblica and the Guardian, the agreement states that Lo Porto was killed inside Pakistan.
The White House, when contacted, said it did not want to disclose the amounts paid to the two families. Mr Lo Porto, a 39-year-old Italian aid worker, had been an Al Qaeda hostage since 2012.
In war zones like Afghanistan, the US frequently gives “solatia” payments to innocent victims of USA military activity-all activity, not just drone strikes-typically around $5,000, according to a 2013 Pro Publica report.
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Earlier on Friday, the Lo Porto family confirmed to the Italian news agency ANSA that it would receive $1.2m from the United States government as compensation.
