WASHINGTON,
August 15 (News Agencies) - More than 600 relatives of victims of the
September 11 terror attacks filed a civil suit Thursday, August 15,
against three members of the Saudi royal family, Sudan, and several Gulf
banks, accusing them of allegedly providing covert financing to the
Al-Qaeda network, their lawyer said.
The
suit by 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism is also aimed at
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden - the Saudi-born dissident suspected of
masterminding the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people - and
Afghanistan's former Taliban militia, which harbored Bin Laden and his
network.
"One
of the main goals of this lawsuit is to allow the families to publicly
air the facts as we learned them," Ron Motley, the lead attorney in
the case, told a press conference.
"We
have solid evidence. In the complaint we detailed how the money got sent
to various places, we name names, we name places," he added.
The
suit seeks at least 1,000 to 3,000 billion dollars in punitive damages
for each of the 14 counts from 99 organizations or individuals. It also
seeks 100 trillion dollars in damages from Sudan.
Motley
said the figures were likely to change as the number of plaintiffs
increases.
"We
expect to have a thousand families listed as plaintiffs by
September," he added.
Three
Saudi princes are among those named: Defense Minister Sultan bin
Abdul-Aziz al-Saud, former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal al-Saud,
and businessman Mohammed al-Faisal al-Saud.
The
suit alleges that Prince Turki al-Faysal al-Saud agreed in 1998 not to
seek the extradition of Bin Laden from Afghanistan and extended
"generous assistance" to the Taliban militia in exchange for
Bin Laden's agreement not to use Afghanistan as a base of operations to
destabilize the Riyadh government.
"We
expect the Saudi nationals and the Gulf banks to fight. But they're
going to have to fight here. They must appear in court here," said
Motley, a lawyer who played a key role in lawsuits against the tobacco
industry.
The
seven banks named in the suit are: Al Baraka Investment and Development
Corporation, National Commercial Bank, Faisal Islamic Bank, Al Rajhi
Banking and Investment, Al Barakaat Exchange LLC, Dar Al Maal Al Islami
and Al Shamal Islamic Bank.
The
Islamic groups it singles out are: International Islamic Relief
Organization, Sanabel Al Kheer Inc., Muslim World League, Saar
Foundation, Rabita Trust, Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc.,
Benevolence International Foundation and the World Assembly of Muslim
Youth.
The
suit also seeks damages from the Bin Laden family's construction firm,
the Saudi bin Laden Group, and claims that Saudi Prince Sultan has
donated at least six million dollars since 1994 to four Islamic
charities which they claim financed Al-Qaeda.
The
plaintiffs aim to "force the sponsors of terror into the light and
subject them to the rule of law," according to the suit to be filed
in federal court in Washington Thursday.
They
are invoking "the rule of law to hold those who promoted, financed,
sponsored or otherwise materially supported the acts of the barbarism
and terror inflicted on September 11, 2001, accountable for their
deeds," the text added.
The
suit brings together families of victims from Argentina, Canada, France,
Paraguay, South Africa and the United States
