JEDDAH, 30 December 2002 — Six Saudi Islamic charities have decided to contest a lawsuit filed by relatives of Sept. 11, 2001 attacks seeking trillions of dollars in damages, their lawyer said yesterday.
The names of the charities appeared on a list along with several dozen individuals, fund-raising charities and other organizations who were accused of funding terrorism.
The charity organizations met last week in Jeddah under the chairmanship of Abdullah Al-Turki, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, and decided on the steps to be taken in this legal battle.
The charity organizations wanted a local Saudi lawyer to liaise with US lawyers and “oversee the process as part of a defense team,” Dr. Basim Abdullah Alam, the attorney hired to represent the organizations, told Arab News. “We will strategize the media, the critical underlying tone and above all the legal aspects of the defense case.”
Dr. Alam will be meeting with US lawyers next week in Europe and develop this strategy “taking into consideration the legal interests of the defenders as paramount.”
“We will be presenting our case to the world,” said Dr. Alam. We are looking for fairness and justice, and if it’s available in US courts we will prevail.” The organizations have allocated $1 million in initial costs for the case.
It’s a long process of studying the strong points and the weak points, systematically “developing the case, presenting summary judgments, etc.” explained Dr. Alam when asked about his strategy and the next steps. “I expect the case to take a couple of years.”
Dr. Alam expressed mixed emotions about this case. “I feel it’s a calling, a duty,” he said, “because I will be defending the whole existence of our life, the pride of our country, and people and mostly our religion. I feel it’s a combination of duel benefits, here on earth and in the life after.”
