Author:
Publication: UNI
Date: August 16, 2002
Members of the Saudi royal family
have been accused in a trillion dollar lawsuit by families of victims of
the September 11 attacks of funding international terrorist mastermind
Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.
Families of 600 people killed in
the attacks filed the lawsuit yesterday against Saudi Arabian banks and
charities besides the royal family, the Washington Post reported.
Three Saudi princes, seven banks,
the government of Sudan and international charities which the US government
has contended are linked to terrorist groups were named as defendants in
the lawsuit filed in a US District Court here.
Members of the Saudi royal family
named in the suit include Prince Turki al Faisal al Saud, former chief
of Saudi intelligence, Prince Sultan, Saudi defence minister and a brother
of King Fahd and Mohammed al Faisal al Saud.
The lawsuit is aimed at bankrupting
people organisations believed to have bankrolled the al-Qaeda and is closely
modelled on the lawsuit brought against Libya for the 1988 bombing of Pan
Am flight 103 over Lockerbie.
''By taking vigorous legal action
against the financial sponsors of terror, the plaintiffs will force the
sponsors of terror into the light and subject them to the rule of law,''
the families asserted in the lawsuit.
''That kingdom sponsors terrorism,''
Ron Motley, the lead lawyer for the victims' families, said. ''This is
an insidious group of people.''
