In a New York court, the civil suit brought against the Saudi government by 9/11 families is proceeding despite the Saudi claim of sovereign immunity. More on the lawsuit can be found here: “Families of 9/11 victims to pack NYC court as Saudi gov’t tries to dodge civil trial: ‘The Kingdom continues to lie,’” by Ben Kochman, New York Post, October 7, 2026:
Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
A federal appeals court will hear arguments Wednesday on whether Saudi Arabia can dodge a lawsuit alleging it aided the 9/11 hijackers — as relatives of New Yorkers killed in the attacks intently watch.
More than 25 years after the deadly terror attacks, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan is considering a lower court judge’s bombshell August 2025 ruling leaving Riyadh potentially on the hook for damages in the long-delayed civil case.
Appeals court judges Guido Calabresi, William Nardini and Eunice Lee will hear from lawyers for both Saudi Arabia and the 9/11 victims’ families.
The families have dug up “reasonable evidence” that the Saudi government — which continues to deny playing any role in the attacks on 9/11 — ran a support network for the hijackers, US District Court Judge George Daniels found.
A potential juror could make “a reasonable inference” that Omar al-Bayoumi, a shadowy Saudi national who helped secure California lodging for a pair of American Airlines Flight 77 hijackers, had coordinated with the Saudi government, the judge ruled.
Al-Bayoumi, a suspected Saudi spy, once hosted a “welcome party” for two hijackers, had flight calculations that could be used to fly a plane into targets and at one point was seen in a chilling video “casing” the US Capitol building, according to court filings….
Congress has passed a law making it easier to sue countries accused of complicity in terrorism. If that law is upheld, the Saudi claim that it cannot be sued because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity will fail. For 25 years, the Saudis have managed to escape American justice, but that may not continue much longer. The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which Congress passed in 2016, allows victims to sue foreign governments for terrorist acts on U.S. soil.
District Court Judge George Daniels has ruled that the families had provided sufficient evidence that linked a Saudi official, Omar al-Bayoumi, to two of the Flight 77 hijackers. Now, three judges of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals will consider the Saudi appeal of that decision. And the Saudis will also want to re-litigate the question of sovereign immunity. American justice is tightening its noose around the Saudis. If, as seems likely, they lose in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Saudi Arabia may potentially be on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars. How to collect such a sum if the Saudis balk at payment is another matter.
Wellington says
No Muslim-majority nation is innocent respecting its active or passive designs upon the West. Every Muslim-majority nation is a dagger pointed at the heart of the West.
Saudi Arabia, which is, a la Menachem Begin, more a family than a nation, has utilized Western technology, which technology would have never been developed by the brain-dead Islamic world, in order to become fabulously rich all the while promoting the undermining of Western Civilization by funding Western educational and business institutions—and bribing a Hell of a lot of Western politicians. And then there is the matter of SA involvement’s in 9/11 but enough for now except to say that in no way whatsoever is the Islamic world a good thing for the West. No way at all.
Wellington says
“….SA’s involvement….” and not (chagrin) …” SA involvement’s….”