Appeals court weighs Saudi Arabia's bid to block 9/11 families' lawsuit

Strada calls 25 years without accountability ‘extraordinary’ time

The US Court of Appeals in New York on Wednesday weighed arguments from lawyers for 9/11 victims’ families and the government of Saudi Arabia as it considered whether the families’ long-running civil case can move to trial. Saudi Arabia’s counsel asked the three-judge panel to reverse an August 2025 ruling by the Manhattan District Court that had allowed the suit to proceed.

The attacks of 11 September 2001 killed almost 3,000 people after hijackers seized four US passenger jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field. The families allege that a Saudi government employee, Omar al-Bayoumi, knowingly supported two of the hijackers and that he was working with a network of officials linked to the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

Bayoumi, who is now retired from government work, has denied knowing the two men were hijackers or that he had any involvement in 9/11. Saudi Arabia has said that any allegation that it or its officials are complicit in 9/11 is “categorically false.” The Kingdom has argued that, as a foreign sovereign state, it has immunity from prosecution in US courts.

Counsel for Saudi Arabia, Gregory Rapawy, argued that core issues of fact — including the central question of the nature of Bayoumi’s employment by the Saudi state — had not been decided and needed to be resolved before the country could be stripped of immunity.

Gavin Simpson, the lawyer for the families, countered that the District Court had already found that Bayoumi’s actions “were not just acts of a good Samaritan or an innocent participant.” Simpson said Bayoumi “was, in fact, following Saudi Arabia’s instructions when assisting the hijackers,” and that these were points Saudi Arabia had “failed to rebut.”

The families first filed the lawsuit in 2002 and spent several years lobbying Congress to amend the foreign sovereign immunity law to allow the case to go ahead. In 2016, Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which allows civil claims against a foreign state or official for injuries, death, or damages from an act of international terrorism. In August 2025, the Manhattan District Court ruled that the families had presented enough evidence to meet the terms of the act and allowed the case to proceed toward trial. Saudi Arabia asked the Court of Appeals to reverse that decision.

One option the judges appeared to weigh was whether to send the case back to the district court to make more concrete findings, which could involve taking testimony from live witnesses. Asked by Judge Guido Calabresi which witnesses Saudi Arabia could call in that eventuality, Rapawy suggested that if the issue ultimately came down to Bayoumi’s credibility, “we would have to see” if he could be called to testify.

As he drew the hearing to a close, Judge William Nardini said “it’s a difficult case, and we will take it under advisement,” meaning that the panel would issue a ruling at a future date.

Speaking outside the courthouse, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom was killed in the World Trade Center, told the BBC she felt positive about the hearing. “25 years is an extraordinary time to go without accountability and justice for the murder of your loved one,” Strada said. “What we hope is that the judges will uphold [District Court] Judge Daniels’ decision and move to a trial.”