Friday, 25 September 2020

The Wheels Of Justice Are A Slowly Burning Fuse

Back in February 2015 .....

Zacarias Moussaoui - A Life Sentence
A Life Prison Sentence For Zacarias Moussaoui
(Some Jurors Weren't Convinced Of His Guilt)

..... the only man convicted of being a 9/11 bomber, and also of being a member of the Bin Laden al-Qaeda terror organisation, Zacarias Moussaoui, made claims that the Saudi royals 'funded 9/11 attacks.' 

Moussaoui made the claims in a rare interview at the high security "Supermax" prison, saying that a number of "extremely famous" Saudi officials, which included a former Saudi intelligence chief, were some of the funders of al-Qaeda from the late 1990s.

Hardly a new allegation, and lets be honest, many people believed that the Saudi's were up to their bloody elbows in that outrage at the time, with fifteen of the 19 hijackers who staged the 2001 attacks, Saudi nationals. Many also think that President Bush let them off the hook for a number of reasons, including family connections. At the time the Saudi Arabian regime rejected the accusation by Moussaoui as from being from a "deranged criminal," with no credibility, and noting that Moussaoui's own lawyers presented evidence of his mental incompetence during his trial.

However subsequent events, such as the murder of the journalist Jamal Kashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, have indicated that the Saudi regime is not one that can be trusted to behave in a civilised manner.

The Saudi's have made several attempts to get the US civil lawsuit, that the lawyers for the 9/11 victims have raised, to sue the country for its collaborative role in the 9/11 attacks, to be dropped. In 2005, a US federal judge ruled that Saudi officials including the former intelligence chief were immune from the lawsuit. The Saudi government has always denied any formal connection between them and al-Queda, and with the 9/11 attacks.

It has also stated that any bill to allow them to be sued would strip away the principle of 'sovereign immunity' and usher in the "law of the jungle". Which when you think of it, is a bit like saying that a government or its officials should be immune from any prosecution, for any criminal act it or they carries out. This is a rather expansive view of the normal acceptance of the Vienna Convention, which governs diplomatic immunity (amongst other things), and as the families’ attorney Sean Carter recently argued, could lead to a situation where “States could simply organize terrorist attacks using their diplomatic and consular facilities.”

However in September 2016, the US Congress unanimously passed a bill allowing 9/11 victims' families to sue the Saudi government. Then in March 2018 a U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York judge officially allowed a suit against the Saudi government .... The US Government has repeatedly warned that the legislation, and a court prosecution might lead to the US government being sued. 

The 9/11 legal battle trundles slowly on in the US courts, but was given new impetus when FBI documents being handed over in April 2020, as a part of a court filing in the 9/11 families ongoing lawsuit accidentally failed to redact the name of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia diplomat Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah. This name and the suggestion that two of the 9/11 terrorists received assistance by reputed Saudi intelligence officer Omar al-Bayoumi, and Saudi diplomats Fahad al-Thumairy and Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah. meant that a smoking gun had possibly been found.

The Wheels Of Justice Turning Slowly
The Wheels Of Justice Turning Slowly In The US.

This is all very much a slow burner, and many in both the US and Saudi governments would wish that it would fizzle out, but slowly and surely the case is heading to the Southern District of New York court in the USA. It may well be one of the longest running cases in the US courts, but it may also prove to be one of the most explosive in its consequences.

In the meantime Moussaoui (who is serving a life sentence), has hand written a note to the courts in which he has now renounced terrorism "I denounce, repudiate Osama bin Laden as a useful idiot of the CIA/Saudi. I also proclaim unequivocally my opposition to any terrorist action, attack, propaganda against the US.” He also said he wanted “to warn young Muslim against the deception and the manipulation of these fake jihadis”.

If he gets his wish to testify when the 9/11 victims case finally has its day in court, it will be a sensational appearance .... what odds him ever making it to that date with destiny?

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