The 9/11 families’ lawsuit against Saudi Arabia cleared its biggest hurdle in August 2025, when a federal judge in Manhattan denied the Kingdom’s motion to dismiss and ruled that the case, first filed in 2003, can proceed toward trial. No trial date has been set, but the ruling stripped Saudi Arabia of the sovereign immunity that had shielded it for most of the last two decades.
Where the Case Stands
On August 28, 2025, Judge George B. Daniels of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the plaintiffs had presented “reasonable evidence” that two Saudi nationals acted within the scope of their government employment when they assisted hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar after the two arrived in the United States in January 2000.1The New York Times. Saudi Arabia Lawsuit 9/11 Families2The Guardian. 9/11 Victims Saudi Arabia Daniels emphasized that the decision established subject-matter jurisdiction; the plaintiffs still have to prove liability at trial.3Terrorism Law Blog. District Court Denies Saudi Arabia’s Motion to Dismiss 9/11 Claims
In March 2026, plaintiffs filed a new brief with the Second Circuit, initially sealed on March 13 and released in redacted form on April 2. It alleges that the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs “financed, operated, and controlled a network” in Southern California to support the hijackers, coordinating “reception, relocation, housing, banking, transportation, and other logistical assistance.”4Motley Rice. Second Circuit Brief on Behalf of Appellees and Cross-Appellants The case could still be derailed by an appeal of the immunity ruling or by a settlement.1The New York Times. Saudi Arabia Lawsuit 9/11 Families Saudi Arabia has consistently denied any involvement, calling allegations of complicity “categorically false.”
The Legal Route to Trial
Families first sued in Manhattan federal court in 2003, and the case was consolidated as In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, docket 03-md-01570.3Terrorism Law Blog. District Court Denies Saudi Arabia’s Motion to Dismiss 9/11 Claims For years the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act blocked the suit. None of the FSIA’s existing exceptions fit: the tort exception was read too narrowly, the commercial-activities exception didn’t cover charitable donations, and the state-sponsor exception didn’t apply because the United States has never designated Saudi Arabia as a state sponsor of terrorism.5Congressional Research Service. CRS Report on 9/11 Litigation and FSIA
Congress changed that in September 2016 by passing the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act over President Obama’s veto. JASTA created a terrorism exception to sovereign immunity for civil suits over acts of international terrorism, even when the alleged conduct occurred abroad, and dropped the requirement that a country be on the State Department’s terrorism list before it could be sued.6Norton Rose Fulbright. Layperson’s Guide: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act The suit was revived against Saudi Arabia in March 2017. Saudi Arabia filed a renewed motion to dismiss in 2023, argued it in July 2024, and lost in August 2025.7Motley Rice. September 11 Anniversary Families Lawsuit Against Saudi Arabia Update To win under JASTA, plaintiffs had to show that Saudi government employees provided material support to the hijackers as part of their official duties.
The Evidence the Judge Credited
Judge Daniels focused on two men, with a third alleged to have directed them.
Omar al-Bayoumi
Al-Bayoumi was long publicly described as a Saudi graduate student who ran into the hijackers by chance at a halal restaurant in Culver City. A 2017 FBI report, not made public until 2022, confirmed he was a paid operative of the Saudi General Intelligence Presidency, receiving a monthly stipend routed through then-Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan.8ProPublica. Sept. 11 Family Lawsuit Saudi Spy Witnesses said the meeting looked preplanned, with al-Bayoumi seen waiting by a window for the hijackers to arrive. He then helped al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar find a San Diego apartment, co-signed the lease, opened a bank account for them, and hosted a gathering where they were the featured guests.9ProPublica. Saudi Officials May Have Assisted 9/11 Hijackers, New Evidence Suggests
Daniels cited al-Bayoumi’s frequent phone calls with Saudi officials, an unexplained doubling of his salary after a trip to Saudi Arabia, and a sketch of an airplane with flight-path calculations recovered from his home, which the judge said “facially connects Bayoumi with knowledge of the 9/11 Attacks.”3Terrorism Law Blog. District Court Denies Saudi Arabia’s Motion to Dismiss 9/11 Claims In a deposition, al-Bayoumi acknowledged that the sketch and calculations, seized by British police in September 2001, were in his handwriting; aviation experts said the equation was for calculating a descent rate from a given altitude.109/11 Families United. New Evidence Overview Separate footage from his home showed him filming the U.S. Capitol in 1999 while narrating what former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell testified was “no doubt” a casing video.
Fahad al-Thumairy
Al-Thumairy served as an imam at the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City and as a Saudi consular official. He told the 9/11 Commission and FBI interviewers that he had no memory of the hijackers and did not know al-Bayoumi, but phone records show at least five dozen calls between the two men.9ProPublica. Saudi Officials May Have Assisted 9/11 Hijackers, New Evidence Suggests A 2016 FBI report from Operation Encore concluded that al-Thumairy was tasked to assist the hijackers on arrival in Los Angeles, describing them as “significant” people.109/11 Families United. New Evidence Overview The State Department revoked his diplomatic visa in 2003 over suspected ties to terrorist activity.
Musaed al-Jarrah
Plaintiffs allege that al-Thumairy and al-Bayoumi did not act alone but were directed by Musaed al-Jarrah, a deputy chief of the Islamic affairs section at the Saudi Embassy in Washington. A 2012 FBI task force report stated there was “evidence” al-Jarrah arranged for the two to assist the hijackers.11ProPublica. The Justice Department Accidentally Released the Name of Saudi Official Suspected of Helping the 9/11 Hijackers His identity was disclosed by accident in a 2020 Justice Department court filing after years of government efforts to keep it under the state-secrets privilege. Al-Jarrah gave a voluntary deposition in June 2021 and denied involvement.12Florida Bulldog. Yahoo News Blamed for Publishing 9/11 Story on Diplomat’s Leaked Deposition Former embassy employees say he reported directly to Ambassador Bandar.13Yahoo News. In Court Filing, FBI Accidentally Reveals Name of Saudi Official Suspected of Directing Support for 9/11 Hijackers Bandar himself has not been deposed.
Declassified Documents That Shifted the Picture
The evidence base grew as long-classified material came out. In 2016, the House Intelligence Committee released the so-called “28 pages” from the 2002 congressional inquiry, which had been withheld for fourteen years and suggested possible connections between Saudi officials and the hijackers.14Lawfare. House Intel Committee Releases Missing 28 Pages of 9/11 Inquiry
In September 2021, the Biden administration declassified a 16-page FBI summary of Operation Encore. It contradicted the 2004 9/11 Commission, which had described al-Bayoumi’s meeting with the hijackers as a “chance meeting” and called him an “unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement.” The FBI report characterized the meeting as a “preplanned, well-orchestrated event.”15NPR. Biden Declassifies Secret FBI Report Detailing Saudi Nationals’ Connections to 9/11 Jim Kreindler, lead counsel for many of the families, called the report a “blueprint” for how al-Qaeda operated in the United States “with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government.” The Saudi Embassy responded that “no evidence has ever emerged to indicate that the Saudi government or its officials had previous knowledge of the terrorist attack or were in any way involved.”
What Could Still Slow It Down
In April 2020, Attorney General William Barr formally asserted the state-secrets privilege to block release of FBI files on Saudi connections to the plot, filing statements under seal that even the families’ lawyers could not see.16ProPublica. Attorney General Barr Refuses to Release 9/11 Documents to Families of the Victims The Biden administration later ordered a review and began releasing some documents on a rolling basis after the FBI closed part of its 9/11 investigation.17The New York Times. Sept. 11 Saudi Arabia Biden The families’ attorneys say they are “still fighting to gain access to the remaining classified materials regarding Saudi officials” withheld under the privilege.18Kreindler & Kreindler. 9/11 Terror Lawsuit Against Saudi Arabia
After 24 years and thousands of docket entries, the suit has outlasted every motion to end it. What remains is an appeal of the immunity decision, further discovery fights over classified files, and, eventually, a trial on whether Saudi government employees knowingly helped make the attacks possible.