New Videos in 9/11 Lawsuit Show Omar al-Bayoumi’s Links to Extremists and Saudi Officials

Video footage obtained by the BBC shows Omar al-Bayoumi embracing Anwar al-Awlaki, who later became a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Another clip shows the two men playing paintball near San Diego with an official from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The footage had never previously been shown publicly.

The videos are part of a $1 trillion lawsuit brought by families of the victims of the September 11 attacks. The lawsuit alleges that Saudi Arabia was complicit in the attacks and that Bayoumi helped two of the 19 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Saudi Arabia and Bayoumi have consistently denied involvement or advance knowledge of the attacks.

The material was among evidence the FBI had within days of the attacks. Bayoumi was arrested in Britain by the Metropolitan Police, and investigators found the videos among his possessions. They also found a diagram of an aircraft with a flight-descent equation written alongside it. Several FBI agents received copies, but British interrogators did not, even though the diagram had been sent to the police station where Bayoumi was held.

The BBC investigation found that the diagram was sent to the FBI’s New York office and analyzed, according to an FBI source. A US Justice Department official told the BBC he had never seen a proposal to prosecute Bayoumi on the evidence, although he said, “we’ve convicted people for less.” FBI agents in San Diego repeatedly sought evidence but did not receive most of it. The San Diego and Los Angeles offices were also blocked from interviewing Bayoumi’s Saudi government contacts.

The evidence was withheld not only from some FBI investigators but also from the 9/11 Commission, the independent inquiry into the attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. Bayoumi was never prosecuted. After a judge allowed the families’ lawsuit to proceed in 2018, thousands of documents, videos and photographs were released to the court and some were declassified under an executive order by former President Joe Biden. The BBC said its Panorama and Radio 4 investigation reviewed those materials and spoke with dozens of agents and investigators. The FBI declined to comment.

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we’ve convicted people for less