Federal appeals judges don’t reveal how they’ll rule on Saudi Arabia’s effort to end 9/11 litigation
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
NEW YORK (AP) — Family members of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks packed a federal appeals courtroom in New York City on Wednesday as three judges heard arguments over whether legal claims against Saudi Arabia can proceed.
The judges revealed through their questions that there are still many legal issues to be decided in the lawsuit even though it has dragged on for almost a quarter-century.
They didn’t say when they might rule on whether claims can proceed to trial alleging that Saudi Arabia provided aid to at least two of the 19 men who hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field that day.
Still, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada was killed in the attacks, said she was encouraged that more than 100 family members of 9/11 victims turned out and by the judges’ questions.
“It really was a good day for us,” she said afterward. “The judges asked really meaningful questions and hammered the Saudi attorneys and didn’t let up. They weren’t buying what the Saudis were selling.”
In lawsuits, hundreds of victims’ relatives and injured survivors, along with insurance companies and businesses, claim that employees of the Saudi government directly and knowingly assisted the hijackers and other plotters and fueled al-Qaida’s development into a terrorist organization by funding charities that supported them.
Some defendants, including Iran, the Taliban and al-Qaida, already have been found in default.
On Wednesday, lawyers from both sides were questioned repeatedly by the appeals judges who seemed unsure exactly how they would respond to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s claims that it should be dismissed as a defendant on sovereign immunity grounds.
Lawyers for Saudi Arabia say the nation and the U.S. were partners in the 1990s against terrorism, al-Qaida and its founder, Osama bin Laden.
Although 15 of the 19 attackers on 9/11 were Saudis, the Saudi government has long denied any involvement in the attacks.
Lawyers for victims’ relatives claim that a group of extremist religious leaders in Saudi Arabia aided the hijackers.
The appeal by Saudi Arabia stemmed from an August 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels, who decided that the case could proceed in federal court, though he did not rule on the merits of the claims.