That didn’t take long. Bloomberg reports that Stephanie Ross DeSimone, whose husband was killed in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, has sued the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for providing material support to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. She is seeking reparations for the death of her husband Navy Commander Patrick Dunn from Saudi Arabia on behalf of herself and her daughter. DeSimone was pregnant when her husband was killed.
The lawsuit was filed just two days after Congress voted to override President Barack Obama’s veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which permits the families of 9/11 victims to take civil actions against foreign governments shown to be sponsors of terrorism.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who carried out the 9/11 terror attack were Saudi nationals.
The 9/11 Commission that investigated the 2001 attacks said in its 2004 report that it “found no evidence that the Saudi government, as an institution, or senior officials within the Saudi government funded al-Qaeda.” But Commission records declassified in May and classified portions of a congressional inquiry that were released in July found the hijackers may have had help from some Saudi officials.
Saudi Arabia has previously denied culpability in the 9/11 terrorist attack. An official at Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the state-run Saudi Press Agency on Sept. 29 that the U.S. Congress must correct the 9/11 bill to avoid “serious unintended consequences,” adding the law is of “great concern” to the Kingdom.
The case is DeSimone v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 16-cv-1944, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia.
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