Pandora’s Box. US
widow sues Saudi Arabia over 9/11 terror attack
A woman widowed when her husband was killed at the
Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 sued the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia just two days after
Congress enacted legislation allowing Americans to sue foreign governments for
allegedly playing a role in terrorist attacks on US soil.
Stephanie Ross DeSimone alleged the kingdom provided material support to
al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, in a complaint filed Friday at a US
court in Washington. Her suit is also filed on behalf of the couple’s daughter.
DeSimone was pregnant when Navy Commander Patrick Dunn was killed.
Fifteen of the 19 men who hijacked airliners used in the attack were
Saudi nationals. One jet struck the Pentagon, seat of the US military, two
destroyed the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York while another
crashed in a Pennsylvania field as its passengers fought back against the
hijackers.
A US commission that investigated the 2001 attacks said in a 2004 report
that it “found no evidence that the Saudi government, as an institution, or
senior officials within the Saudi government funded al-Qaeda.” Long-classified
portions of a congressional inquiry that were released in July found the
hijackers may have had help from some Saudi officials.
The kingdom has previously denied culpability. Its embassy didn’t
immediately reply to an e-mailed message seeking comment on the suit.
An official at Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the
state-run Saudi Press Agency on September 29 that the US Congress must correct
the 9/11 bill to avoid “serious unintended consequences,” adding the law is of
“great concern” to the Kingdom.
DeSimone, who is suing for wrongful death and intentional infliction of
emotional distress, is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
SCMP
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