{"id":367509,"date":"2026-10-08T03:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367509\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T03:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:20:18","slug":"9-11-families-suing-saudi-arabia-flood-nyc-courtroom-as-government-tries-to-dodge-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367509\/","title":{"rendered":"9\/11 families suing Saudi Arabia flood NYC courtroom as government tries to dodge blame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Relatives of Sept.11 victims flooded a New York City courtroom Wednesday \u2014 where they ripped Saudi Arabia\u2019s bid to avoid blame for aiding the Al Qaeda hijackers<\/a> as \u201coutrageous.\u201d <\/p>\n

Around 100 people who lost loved ones on that horrific day packed the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in lower Manhattan, just blocks from Ground Zero, and were left fuming at the Kingdom\u2019s efforts to dodge liability in the long-delayed case.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s outrageous, after seeing the evidence of the direct link between the Saudi government agents and hijackers, for them to continue denying their culpability,\u201d said Terry Strada, who lost her husband Tom in the attacks.<\/p>\n

Brett Eagleson, president of 9\/11 Justice, and Terry Strada, National Chair for the 9\/11 Families United, right, speak outside of the courthouse after the hearing. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to finally see justice,\u201d added Lisa Friedman, whose husband Andrew was killed that day.<\/p>\n

Riyadh is appealing a lower court\u2019s ruling last August that the families can take Saudi Arabia to trial because there\u2019s \u201creasonable evidence\u201d that it ran a support network for some of the terrorists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saudi officials deny having any knowledge of the attacks beforehand and claim they\u2019re protected from the lawsuit under foreign sovereign immunity \u2014 despite a 2016 act of Congress making it easier for Sept.11 victims\u2019 families to sue countries<\/a> accused of sponsoring terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has never supported its enemy, Al Qaeda, against its ally, the United States,\u201d said Gregory Rapawy, a lawyer for the oil-rich nation, during the 90-minute court hearing.<\/p>\n

Gavin Simpson, who reps the relatives of Sept.11 victims, countered that the Saudi government has \u201cfailed\u201d to prove that it should be removed from the suit that claims it was complicit in the terror attacks.<\/p>\n

Several plaintiffs seated in the courtroom gallery applauded after Simpson finished his arguments, earning a light chastising from Circuit Court Judge William Nardini.<\/p>\n

Sarah Rachel Wainio holds a photo of her sister Elizabeth Wainio, who died on 9\/11 on United Flight 93. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease, this is not a moment for such things,\u201d Nardini said after hearing the smattering of clapping.<\/p>\n

After the hearing wrapped, family members of the Sept.11 victims called on President Trump to put pressure on the Saudi government to apologize for their alleged role in the terror attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all fed up. And it\u2019s time that the president defended us,\u201d said Aaron Sand, whose dad Eric died after planes flew into the Twin Towers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump, I love ya, but you are not doing enough,\u201d Sand added. \u201cYou have to prioritize the family members who were harmed, who lost loved ones because of this nation that claims to be an ally but is very much proving the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Families of the victims have spent decades pursuing the government of Saudi Arabia for their alleged role in the attacks. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

Victims\u2019 relatives flew in from around the country to attend the hearing, including Steve Milam, who came all the way from Dallas. His brother, US Army Major Ron Milam, was killed at the Pentagon on Sept.11.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just hoping the judges will see that it is necessary in order to help the families in their healing process that Saudi Arabia be held liable for the tragic loss of our loved ones,\u201d he told The Post.<\/p>\n

The suit, first filed in 2004, alleges that suspected Saudi spy Omar al-Bayoumi helped secure California lodging<\/a> for a pair of American Airlines Flight 77 hijackers, once hosted a \u201cwelcome party\u201d for two hijackers, and at one point was seen in a chilling video \u201ccasing\u201d the US Capitol building<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Al-Bayoumi, who is believed to live in Saudi Arabia, has denied that he was a spy.<\/p>\n

Appeals judges Nardini,\u00a0Guido Calabresi and Eunice Lee said Wednesday that they\u2019ll rule on whether to uphold the lower court\u2019s ruling \u2014 and clear the way for a trial \u2014 at some point in the coming months.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Additional reporting by Priscilla DeGregory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Relatives of Sept.11 victims flooded a New York City courtroom Wednesday \u2014 where they ripped Saudi Arabia\u2019s bid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5301,277,57,9,56,63,65,64,25505,3694,58],"class_list":["post-367509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-9-11","tag-manhattan-federal-court","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-terrorism","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}