Saudi Arabia calls on US judge to drop lawsuit against the Kingdom over 9/11 attacks

Saudi Arabia has asked a US federal judge to reject a lawsuit that seeks to hold the Kingdom accountable for the September 11 attacks of 2001, Saudi newspaper Okaz reported yesterday.

The paper cited a document presented by Riyadh’s lawyers to the Manhattan federal court in which he stated that the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which was passed in Congress in 2016 and is commonly known as JASTA, does not change the reality on the ground, which is that there is no evidence of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the 2001 attacks.

According to the paper, the lawyer told the court that JASTA does not mean that those who filed the case can continue make accusations against Saudi Arabia without presenting sufficient evidence to support their allegations.

The lawsuit was filed by families of victims and survivors of the 2001 attacks.

The official “9/11 Commission Report,” which was prepared at the request of then-President George W. Bush and the Congress, found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organisation [Al-Qaeda].” The report, however, did not “exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to Al-Qaeda.”

Read: Saudi Arabia seeks to end US lawsuits over 9/11 attacks