FBI reveals link between Saudi official and 9/11 attacks 'by mistake'

The name of Mussaed Ahmad al-Jarrah emerges in the declassified testimony of the assistant director Jill Sanborn. A Saudi foreign ministry official and employee of the embassy in 2000, he allegedly offered important support to terrorists. No comment from Riyadh on the new revelations.

Washington (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The FBI has revealed, perhaps by mistake, the identity of a Saudi diplomat, suspected of having offered important support to terrorists linked to al-Qaeda and perpetrators of the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States.

The name of Mussaed Ahmad al-Jarrah, a foreign ministry official who worked at the Saudi embassy in Washington between 1999 and 2000, is contained in a statement released in April to the Federal Court by Jill Sanborn, deputy director of the anti -terrorism division.

The document, which was secret until last week, comes in the context of a trial by the families of the victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (and Washington) and Saudi Arabia, accused of "complicity". This is the first time that information officially linking a senior Saudi official to the attacks has been made public.

There has been no official reaction to the news from Riyadh there, which risks reviving the accusations of ties - if not connivances - between the commando that launched the attacks and the Wahhabi kingdom. After all, as many as 15 of the 19 hijacking pilots were Saudi citizens and the Obama administration itself, in the past, had vetoed a law that would have made the monarchy "imputable".

"This shows that there has been a complete concealment by the (US) government of Saudi involvement," says Brett Eagleson, one of the spokesmen for the victims' relatives. "It is - he adds - a huge mistake".

Although Riyadh has repeatedly denied any charge over the years, reports and documents have emerged on several occasions which refute - at least in part - this claim. In 2016, a 28-page study declassified by the US Congress revealed financial or logistical support given to the attackers by Saudi figures. Suspicions endorsed by the results of a joint New York Times and ProPublica investigation entitled "Operation Again", which revealed intertwining links between Islamic extremists and the Arab government.

Jill Sanborn's testimony is contained in a 2012 report, part of which has been declassified. Attorneys for the senior FBI official failed to delete Mussaed Ahmad al-Jarrah's name before the report was published. He is said to be the "third man" who "accused" Fahad al-Thumairy, an agent of the Saudi ministry of Islamic affairs and imam of King Fahd's mosque in Los Angeles, an undercover agent of Riyadh, for assisting the members of the command that hit the Pentagon.