Attorneys for 9/11 families say that just weeks after the attacks, the FBI obtained video showing a Saudi intelligence asset, Omar al-Bayoumi, hosting a welcome party for two of the American Airlines Flight 77 attackers, Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar, in San Diego on Feb. 17, 2000.
The video has become key evidence in the families' lawsuit against Saudi Arabia for its alleged involvement in the plot, which could soon reach trial after decades of legal work.
Brett Eagleson of Middletown, CT, whose father Bruce was killed in the Twin Towers, describes the video, saying Bayoumi is seen “introducing the hijackers to the room (of 29 Muslim men), announcing to the room that these two hijackers will be traveling soon, they’re here in America on a spiritual mission, they will be going to Allah soon.”
Another video shows Bayoumi casing the U.S. Capitol, the intended target of the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93.
The families say the videos and reams of other evidence prove that multiple Saudi officials supported the attackers.
Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, says, “Our own FBI knew that Bayoumi was a Saudi intelligence operative and they knew that he was a suspect because they instructed the British police to go raid Bayoumi’s flat ten days after 9/11. Scotland Yard… seized evidence. They kept the originals, and they sent everything back to the FBI field office in New York.”
However, the families claim that evidence was buried by U.S. authorities, only to be released decades later by police in Great Britain. Bayoumi was never prosecuted for his involvement.
“Our government (the U.S.) still continues to fight the families,” adds Eagleson. “They’re suppressing the story of what really happened that day, and that is, Saudi’s government support network provided the assistance needed for those hijackers to pull off the attacks.”
Saudi Arabia has denied any involvement, and has unsuccessfully tried to derail the multi-billion dollar lawsuit.
A federal judge in New York has ruled that the families have presented enough evidence to move the case forward.
On July 30, 2024, Gavin Simpson, an attorney for the families told District Judge George Daniels in New York that the welcome party was part of the plot, and that the 29 men attending were “hand-picked by Bayoumi and other agents of Saudi Arabia in order to provide to the hijackers precisely the forms of support they needed in order to be able to assimilate and to further their preparations for the 9/11 attacks.”
Eagleson says of Bayoumi and other Saudi officials that, “Their soul purpose of employment for the Saudi government was to help the hijackers. And the judge said, because of that, Saudi Arabia is going to trial for murder. Granted, it’s civil litigation, but they’re still being accused of murder.”
A hearing on Oct. 7 will help determine if a trial date will be set.
