Saudi Arabia’s lawyers demand dismissal of charges that it supported 9/11 hijackers

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Saudi Arabia argued Wednesday that the country fought terrorism and al Qaeda, like the United States, in the 1990s and should not be a defendant in lawsuits seeking more than $100 billion in compensation for relatives of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

District Judge George B. Daniels heard arguments Wednesday about the evidence in the 20-year-old Manhattan case.

Lawyers for the families of 9/11 victims say a group of extremist religious leaders in Saudi Arabia gained influence in the Saudi government and helped the 9/11 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Fifteen of the 19 9/11 attackers were Saudis.

In lawsuits, hundreds of relatives of victims and injured parties, as well as insurance companies and businesses, allege that Saudi government officials directly and knowingly helped the plane hijackers and those planning the attack, and supported the development of al-Qaeda into a terrorist organization by funding charities that supported it.

Some of the defendants, including Iran, the Taliban and al-Qaeda, have already been found innocent.

Saudi Arabia’s lawyers say the country and the United States cooperated in the 1990s to fight terrorism, al-Qaeda and its founder, Osama bin Laden.

Attorneys Michael Kellogg and Gregory G. Rapawy, representing Saudi Arabia, said the plaintiffs in the lawsuits had failed to gather enough evidence over the past four years of information gathering to allow them to proceed with their claims.

Kellogg noted that Saudi Arabia stripped al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden of his citizenship in the 1990s and took more action against him than any other country before the 9/11 attacks.

He said the suggestion that Saudi Arabia was behind the terrorist attacks “has no factual basis and is contrary to all relevant evidence.”

Kellogg said the plaintiffs “equate Islam with terrorism” and reject the fact that Saudi Arabia follows Islamic principles and rejects terrorism.

Rapawy noted that bin Laden had denounced Saudi Arabia and the U.S. in 1996. He said the plaintiffs’ claims “are broad and lacking in evidence.”

Attorney Gavin Simpson, representing the plaintiffs, said there was “substantial evidence, even persuasive evidence” that a network of militants in the United States worked with Saudi officials to help the hijackers, who came to the United States in the early 2000s to prepare for the attacks.

He showed the judge video footage of a “welcome party” held in California on Feb. 17, 2000, for the two kidnappers, saying there were 29 people there who later helped the pair settle in America and prepare for the attacks.

“There are many examples of support that has been given, Your Majesty,” he said. “The purpose of this event was to welcome the kidnappers.”

He rejected Kellogg’s claim that the plaintiffs had equated Islam with terrorism. “We did nothing of the sort,” Simpson said.

Now-declassified documents show that U.S. investigators examined some Saudi diplomats and others with ties to the Saudi government who had contact with the hijackers after they arrived in the U.S. The 9/11 Commission report found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually financed” the attacks planned by al-Qaeda. But the commission also noted the “likelihood” that charities sponsored by the Saudi government did so.

Daniels had already thrown out Saudi Arabia as a defendant, but Congress passed a law that eliminated some defenses and allowed 9/11 victims to renew their claims. Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, lobbied against the new law.

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