Nearly 24 years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a federal judge in New York ruled yesterday that the government of Saudi Arabia may face a civil lawsuit alleging that the kingdom sponsored, aided, and supported the Al Qaeda hijackers responsible for the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history.
U.S. District Judge George Daniels denied Saudi Arabia’s request to dismiss the lawsuit. The families of 9/11 victims called the decision “the most significant step to date” in two decades of litigation.
The ruling marks the first time a federal court has explicitly opened the door for families to pursue their case against Saudi Arabia, which alleges that Saudi officials or agents aided the 9/11 hijackers and should be held liable.
Lawyers representing Saudi Arabia attempted to dismiss the families’ and estates’ lawsuits—initially filed in 2003—arguing that, as a sovereign state, the kingdom is immune from civil litigation in U.S. courts.
However, Judge Daniels stated that the families provided “reasonable evidence” that two Saudi citizens, Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy, were sent by their government to the U.S. to assist the hijackers.
“KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] did not present sufficient evidence to the contrary,” Daniels declared. “While KSA attempts to offer seemingly innocent explanations or context, these are contradictory or not strong enough to refute the inference that KSA employed Bayoumi and Thumairy to aid the hijackers.”
According to the judge’s opinion, there is evidence that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent Bayoumi to San Diego in 1994.
The official reason was to pursue studies. The plaintiffs alleged he was recruited by Saudi intelligence, which Bayoumi denied.
Saudi authorities assigned Thumairy as an imam at a Los Angeles mosque in 1998. One of his bank accounts received significant funds from a high-ranking Saudi cabinet official, the judge wrote in his ruling. Thumairy claimed the money was for mosque expenses.
When Al Qaeda sent two of the hijackers—Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar—to Los Angeles in January 2000, they were taken to the mosque and introduced to Thumairy, who left the U.S. five weeks before the attacks.
About a month after meeting Thumairy, the two hijackers met Bayoumi, who helped them find an apartment in San Diego. In a notepad confiscated from Bayoumi, authorities claimed to have found a hand-drawn sketch of an airplane along with numbers, calculations, and notes.
The plaintiffs alleged that the Saudi government hired Thumairy and Bayoumi to conduct covert activities in the U.S., providing material support and assistance to the hijackers.
Saudi Arabia has denied these allegations. “Nearly a quarter-century after the loss of our loved ones, Judge Daniels’ ruling gives us the opportunity to finally seek accountability, justice, and closure in their memory,” said Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, a coalition of families affected by 9/11.
24 years of pain
Nearly 24 years after the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history, the remains of three new victims were recently identified, but 1,100 people who are presumed to have died there still have no officially recovered remains.
These latest three identifications were the first since 2024. The new DNA matches bring the total number of identified victims to 1,653, according to authorities. But 1,100 victims—40% of those killed—remain unidentified.
Since September 11, 2001, thousands of victims have been progressively identified by the city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) using various methods. New confirmations are occasionally added, but the list of pending cases remains long, prolonging the pain and anguish of families.
Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks that day in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, in the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
Only 60% of the fatalities from that day have been identified. Several more have died or reported illnesses in subsequent years due to the attacks, as the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) sent a thick cloud of dust over Lower Manhattan and fires burned for weeks. Thousands of construction workers, police officers, firefighters, volunteers, and others spent time working in the soot, often without proper respiratory protection. Previously, a deadly attack had already occurred at the World Trade Center in February 1993.
Since 2001, the work has been grueling, but progress has been slow. The OCME is still attempting to identify human remains among the debris and making advances. “This is not only the largest forensic investigation in U.S. history but also the most difficult.”
There have also been parallel findings, such as the case of Patricia Kathleen McGlone, a teenager who disappeared in 1970 and was found dead in Midtown Manhattan in 2003 and was only identified in 2024 when a family tree led to a match with a relative who died on September 11, 2001.
Image: DiarioNY
