A US federal judge has dismissed charges against two members of the Saudi royal family of illicit dealings with Al-Qaeda’s Osama Bin Laden. The one trillion dollar lawsuit argued that the Saudi leaders knowingly funded the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Filed by more than 900 family members of the attack’s victims, injured firefighters and rescue workers, the lawsuit charged Saudi Arabia’s defense minister and leader of Islamic affairs Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz of funding charities that he knew subsidized Bin Laden's terrorist organization.
The lawsuit also cites Saudi director of the Department of General Intelligence Prince Turki Al-Faisal and accuses him of paying off Bin Laden in exchange for a guarantee that his organization would not carry out attacks in the Kingdom.
“The claims against them for acts allegedly done in their official capacities will be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” stated Columbia District Court Judge James Robertson. He said that there was little evidence from plaintiffs that Sultan or Turki acted as individuals or to cause murders and injuries in the attacks on New York and Washington.
In addition, the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 bars claims against foreign officials. The case’s plaintiffs could not establish that their indictment met the numerous exceptions that would allow their claims to proceed, said Robertson. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
