Families of 9/11 victims to pack NYC court as Saudi govt tries to dodge civil trial: The Kingdom continues to lie

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.Saudi officials are appealing Daniels’ decision, and are expected Wednesday to rehash claims that Riyadh is immune from facing trial in a US court because it is a sovereign state.Those claims have left 9/11 victims’ families fuming.“The Kingdom continues to lie in court and deny any culpability, when the evidence shows that their agents were directly involved in the attacks,” said Terry Strada, national chair of 9/11 Families United, whose husband Tom, a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, was killed in the north tower.The 9/11 families’ long-running lawsuit, first filed in 2004, contends a group of religious extremists gain...