The princes and the towers
Michael Vestey
I've not been much of an admirer of Radio Four's documentary series File on Four, produced in Manchester, but last week's edition (Tuesday) was fascinating. It drew on the evidence being compiled by the successful and wealthy American law firm that is suing more than 200 individuals, Muslim charities and financial organisations on behalf of 5,300 relatives of those killed on 9/11. Two of the people named in the case, which opened in Washington this week, are Saudi Arabia's ambassador to London, Prince Turki, and the country's defence minister, Prince Sultan. They're accused of being either willing or unwitting accomplices of al-Qa'eda, and the families are after trillions of dollars.
If those being sued argue that they didn't know that money being channelled to Islamic charities was being diverted to terrorists, they will be guilty of negligence; if they did know, they would be complicit. The lawyers are based in Charleston. South Carolina, and are led by Ronald Motley, something of a celebrity — selfstyled 'king of torts' — and known for taking on the tobacco companies and relieving them of many millions of dollars for damaging health. His percentage, according to the reporter Gerry Northam, ran into billions, with which he's able partly to finance the case himself. He told Northam it was about accountability and making the funding of terrorism painful. He said he had built up what he called 'a superb case' against them.
We heard from a bitter and angry father whose son died after being trapped on the floor above where the first aircraft flew into the World Trade Center. He admitted he was in it for the money, which he would spend on good causes, because he wanted to bankrupt the Saudis. There were already four scholarships in his son's name. The allegation against Prince Sultan is that he gave his own money to charitable organisations knowing it was being used to fund terrorist operations by al-Qa'eda.
One of the lawyers involved, Michael Elsner, said the prince was specifically warned about this in 1999 but continued to make donations. His rebuttal, though, is that he was merely doing it as an agent of the Saudi government and not in a person al capacity. Elsner says he has the evidence that it was his own money. One allegation is that he has paid $6 million to the chari ties in the past nine years. The prince's defence is that there is no proof any of it went to al-Qa'eda. In any case, both members of the Saudi royal family will attempt to claim diplomatic immunity and have the case against them struck out.
The Saudi ambassador's representative in London seemed to confirm to Northam that it was Prince Sultan's own money, but under questioning backtracked a little to say that he was merely making an assump tion. Prince Sultan wouldn't have given money to Osama bin Laden, who was his enemy. Motley told the programme, though, that he has a witness who will say he actually saw the prince writing out a cheque to al-Qa'eda. Two of the charities named, the Muslim World League and the International Islamic Relief Organisation, were, and perhaps are, heavily funded by the Saudi government, and their offices in the United States were closed down after 9/11.
The lawsuit alleges that when Prince Turki was head of Saudi Intelligence in 1998 he reached agreement with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden that, if alQa'eda didn't use the infrastructure in Aghanistan to subvert the Saudi royal family, his government would ensure that there were no demands for the extradition of these terrorists and that training camps would not be closed down. He is said to have promised that generous financial assistance would continue to flow to the Taliban, who sustained and protected al Qa'eda. French Intelligence passed to Washington after 9/11 claims to have wit nesses to these meetings. It was simply protection money. The Saudis deny these allegations, claiming that although the meeting with the Taliban did take place it was merely to ask for the handing over of Osama bin Laden and it didn't work.
It being America, anything can happen in a lawsuit, and it will be interesting to see if the two princes succeed in claiming immunity. If not, this could be a deeply significant case, as Saudi Arabia is an important ally of the United States in the war against terror. No wonder the White House is nervous about its outcome.
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