New York City: Hundreds of relatives of individuals killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks have sued Saudi Arabia in US court, seeking to take advantage of a law passed by Congress last year that allows victims of such attacks on US soil to sue state sponsors.
The lawsuit filed on Monday in federal court in Manhattan is the latest effort to hold Saudi Arabia liable for the al-Qaeda attacks, which killed nearly 3000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
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US Senate overrides Obama's veto of 9/11 bill
In a 97-to-1 vote, the Senate acted to override President Obama's veto of legislation that would allow families of victims to sue Saudi Arabia for the kingdom's alleged backing of the 9/11 hijackers.
For years, US law granting foreign nations broad immunity from lawsuits scuttled attempts by September 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in New York. In 2015, US District Judge George Daniels dismissed claims against the kingdom from September 11 families, saying he did not have jurisdiction over a sovereign nation.
But last fall, Congress overwhelmingly passed the "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act" permitting such lawsuits to proceed.
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Lawmakers overrode a veto from then-President Barack Obama, who argued that the law would expose US companies, troops and officials to lawsuits in other countries and could anger allies.
Since then, there have been seven lawsuits filed in New York against Saudi Arabia, including Monday's complaint, all of which will go before Daniels. The previous cases were brought by families of victims and hundreds of individuals who suffered injuries as a result of the attacks.
Fifteen of the 19 airplane hijackers who carried out the attacks were from Saudi Arabia. A commission set up by the US government to investigate found no evidence that the Saudi government directly funded al-Qaeda but left open the possibility that individual officials did so.
The Saudi government has denied any involvement in the attacks. A lawyer for Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Reuters