US to reveal suspect in 9/11 hijacking
The US Justice Department will release the identity of a person with ties to the Saudi government accused of supporting al-Qaeda in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The identity of the person remains closely guarded, but is likely to be released to lawyers representing families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In their lawsuit, the victims' relatives suspect the Saudi government of having played a role in aiding the terrorists.
"The FBI recognizes the need and desire of the victims' families to understand what happened to their loved ones and to hold those responsible accountable," Justice Department prosecutors said in a court filing yesterday. Prosecutors may then ask the Justice Department to release the person's identity more widely.
The move by the FBI and the US Justice Department comes after years of pressure from families of 9/11 victims. The horrific terrorist attack has long threatened the credibility of the Saudi Arabian government, despite its repeated denials of any links to the al-Qaeda militant group.
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People lay flowers at the National September 11 Memorial in New York on September 11. Photo:AFP. |
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda hijackers hijacked two passenger planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, causing both 110-story towers to collapse and killing nearly 3,000 people. They also hijacked two other civilian planes, one of which crashed into the Pentagon and the other into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Fifteen of the 19 terrorists who carried out the attacks were from Saudi Arabia. A 2002 report on the attack said some of the perpetrators had received funding from Saudi officials, with “at least two” allegedly being intelligence officers.
The two men were identified as Fahad al-Thumairy and Omar al-Bayoumi, both of whom were associated with the US embassy in Saudi Arabia at the time. However, investigations have shown that they were not involved in the hijackings.
In 2012, a redacted FBI report repeated the accusations against the two suspects, and mentioned a third person who may have directed them, but his name was redacted. Some speculated that he was a member of the Saudi royal family, but his identity was kept secret.
Those involved in the 9/11 lawsuit welcomed the decision to release the names of the Saudi suspects. “The families have worked hard to find the truth. We should not be begging for basic, or withheld, information about the Saudi role in the attacks,” said Terry Strada, a representative of the group of families and survivors of the terrorist attacks.
Families of 9/11 victims began suing Saudi Arabia in 2003. In 2016, the US Congress passed a law allowing civil lawsuits to be filed against a foreign country accused of involvement in terrorism. President Barack Obama vetoed the law, fearing that the lawsuit could expose US diplomats and military personnel operating abroad, but Congress overrode the veto.