JEDDAH, 16 November 2003 — A US district court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against both Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, and Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi ambassador to Britain, brought by victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington.
“The claims against them for acts allegedly done in their official capacities will be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” Columbia District Court Judge James Robertson said.
“The claims against Prince Sultan for acts allegedly done in his personal capacity will be dismissed without prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction,” the judge said in his written opinion.
Robertson was giving his decision on a lawsuit filed by victims and survivors of the Sept. 11 attacks. He said US courts had no jurisdiction to rule on the actions of the two Saudi officials. Robertson refused to accept the claims against the two princes submitted by the lawyers of the Sept. 11 victims saying it was mere accusations and could not be considered judicial evidence.
In his written opinion Robertson said he did not find a single piece of legal evidence to prove the accusations against Prince Sultan and Prince Turki, a former director of intelligence in the Kingdom. In the lawsuit filed by the Sept. 11 victims and their relatives, Prince Turki was accused of having an “ongoing relationship” with Osama Bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the attacks in the United States.
A team of US lawyers had lodged the suit against several individuals and organizations, mostly Saudi, claiming compensation worth billions of dollars in favor of the victims.
US lawyer Asim Ghafour told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, he considered the court verdict a natural end of the lawsuit as a result of the lack of judicial evidence. “The acquittal of Prince Sultan and Prince Turki is a good beginning and it indicates that the plaintiffs are likely to suffer a big loss,” he said.
He said Judge Robertson based his judgment on the US Constitution, which does not allow a US court to prosecute members of royal families for actions performed in an official capacity.
“This is the first step in the judicial process of the US courts,” said Dr. Kamal Hussain Shukri, legal counsel for Prince Turki in Jeddah last night. “We are confident that under the due process of the US judicial system, we will win this all the way.” He added, “The case has been filed against defendants who have nothing at all to do with the heinous events of the Sept. 11 tragedy. The plaintiffs have a perfect right to claim from the perpetrators whoever they are, but should go after the right people.” The case may go forward to appeal but Dr. Shukri is quietly confident that the current decision will be upheld. “No link has been established between the events of Sept. 11 and Prince Sultan or Prince Turki,” he said. “Neither has a link been established ‘in persona’ between the area where the claim was filed and the defendants.”
During the last court session, Robertson also said that most Saudis and Arabs named in the lawsuit would be cleared through judicial procedures as he considered the accusations against them beyond United States jurisdiction. The lawsuit had accused a number of Saudi charity organizations of funding terrorism. However, they categorically denied the allegation. The assistant secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Abdulwahab Nourwali, said the lawsuit was part of a “fierce campaign to discredit Islamic charity organizations.” He said the Saudi government regularly monitored WAMY’s accounts and its fund-raising operations.
