Federal judge allows families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia

Source: ABC News

August 28, 2025, 7:34 PM


Nearly 24 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, a federal judge in New York decided Thursday that Saudi Arabia can face a civil lawsuit alleging the kingdom sponsored, aided and supported the al-Qaeda hijackers.

Families of 9/11 victims called the judge's decision denying Saudi Arabia's bid to dismiss the lawsuit "the most consequential step yet" in two decades of litigation.

Attorneys representing Saudi Arabia had tried to dismiss claims by victims' families and estates, first filed in 2003, arguing that, as a sovereign state, it is immune from civil litigation in American courts. However, U.S. District Judge George Daniels said the families provided "reasonable evidence" that two Saudi citizens -- Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy -- were sent by their government to the United States to assist the hijackers.

"KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] did not proffer sufficient evidence to the contrary," Daniels said. "Although KSA attempts to offer seemingly innocent explanations or context, they are either self-contradictory or not strong enough to overcome the inference that KSA had employed Bayoumi and Thumairy to assist the hijackers."

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-judge-allows-families-911-victims-sue-saudi/story?id=125075883