Latest news with #OmarAlBayoumi
New York Times
11-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Families of Sept. 11 Victims Urge Lutnick to Help Extradite Saudi National
The families of some of the victims killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks who worked for the bond trading company of Howard Lutnick, now the commerce secretary, are urging him to help extradite a Saudi Arabian national potentially involved in the attacks as he prepares to engage in economic talks with the kingdom. In a letter to Mr. Lutnick, obtained by The New York Times, the families representing the hundreds of employees at the company, Cantor Fitzgerald, who died in the attack cited recently unsealed evidence showing that Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi intelligence agent, had ties to the attackers. Mr. Lutnick is himself a relative of a victim of the terrorist attack; his brother, who also worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, died. And Cantor, whose offices spanned the 101st to the 105th floors of the World Trade Center's North Tower, lost more employees than any other firm affected by the attacks. The letter comes as Mr. Lutnick plans to accompany President Trump to Saudi Arabia this week as part of a weeklong trip to the Middle East. The families urged Mr. Lutnick to make the case that Mr. al-Bayoumi be brought to justice in any discussions about strengthening the United States' economic partnership with the kingdom. The relatives wrote that his appointment 'gives us renewed hope' to determine the full truth about the attacks and who was responsible. 'You are in a unique position to emphasize that any such partnership must begin with accountability and justice, ensuring that Omar al-Bayoumi is handed over to the United States to face justice in an American court,' read the letter, which had more than 150 signatories. 'This issue transcends politics; it is a matter of principle,' the letter continued. 'It is about honoring the lives we lost, and whether the country that sent them to their tragic deaths will ever be held accountable.' Commerce Department officials declined to comment. A person with knowledge of Mr. Lutnick's thinking said he had seen the letter and deeply appreciated the family members' thoughts. Mr. Lutnick, who was serving as the firm's chief executive at the time of the attack, lost 658 employees, including his best friend. In a social media post last year, he recounted how he was dropping his son off for his first day of kindergarten when his phone kept ringing and disconnecting as his brother, Gary, tried to call to say goodbye. Cantor Fitzgerald continued to support the families affected by the attacks, giving them $180 million. It also paid for their health care for 10 years and set up a relief fund. 'I promised to take care of all the families,' he wrote. 'They became part of my family.' There was dissent within the firm over how a settlement allocation from American Airlines over the aircraft that slammed into the World Trade Center north tower, causing it to collapse. Mr. Lutnick told the company's executives in 2014 that the money was to be largely disbursed among partners at the firm, as opposed to family members of those killed. For years, information about Mr. al-Bayoumi's potential involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks was obscured. Last summer, a trove of evidence seized by British authorities from the home of Mr. al-Bayoumi tying him to the Sept. 11 Qaeda hijackers was made public for the first time. More than a week after the attacks, British police officers raided the home of Mr. al-Bayoumi, who had met two of the Sept. 11 hijackers in Los Angeles shortly after they arrived in early 2000. Among the items the officers seized was a pad on which Mr. al-Bayoumi had sketched an airplane in blue ink, above which he had written a mathematical equation. The British authorities turned the material over to the F.B.I. for its investigation of the attacks. But it remains unclear what happened to the drawing after that. It was not shared with the 9/11 Commission, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and experts responsible for writing the definitive account of the attacks. In its 2004 report, the commission called Mr. al-Bayoumi 'an unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement with Islamic extremists.' None of the new evidence from Mr. al-Bayoumi's home conclusively proved that the Saudi government enabled the attacks, but it adds to a growing circumstantial case. The families cited a report broadcast on '60 Minutes' last month, revealing that Mr. al-Bayoumi filmed the Capitol before the attacks. In the letter, the families pointed out that such information had been in the F.B.I.'s hands weeks after the attack but was withheld from the American public and the Sept. 11 commission for years. 'That betrayal is staggering,' the letter said. 'But now we have an opportunity for a fresh start.'
American Military News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- American Military News
9/11 families demand extradition of Saudi national tied to video evidence
The 'pissed off' 9/11 families suing Saudi Arabia in federal court over alleged links to the terror attacks are demanding a key suspect be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial. As the Boston Herald has reported, Saudi national Omar Al Bayoumi was seen on video casing the Capitol in the summer of 1999, pointing out Congress, the Washington Monument, the skyline and jotting down in a notebook a formula to calculate the rate of descent. He was on a student visa and has long since returned to the kingdom. The 9/11 Commission was never aware of this evidence, and it is now part of a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia that is before a federal judge in Manhattan, who will decide if the case can continue. The 9/11 families also want Al Bayoumi to face justice in a trial of his own. 'Bring this agent of terror back and let the American justice system handle him,' said Brett Eagleson, who was 15 years old when his dad, Bruce, died when the Twin Towers collapsed in New York City. 'Bringing him back is the least we deserve,' Eagleson told the Herald by telephone Monday, after a protest outside FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., seeking help from agency Director Kash Patel. 'Why was this information buried for 23 years? Our government should be held accountable.' Eagelson choked back tears as he recounted how his dad died on Sept. 11, 2001, as he 'stayed behind in those towers' to help the workers he oversaw running the retail shops at the bottom of the World Trade Center. Eagleson and his group are calling on President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to 'bring Al Bayoumi back' when they travel to Saudi Arabia in mid-May. 'We 9/11 families are pissed off,' said Dennis McGinley, whose brother, Daniel, died in the Twin Towers. He also spoke at Monday's protest. 'We need someone in government leadership to be our hero and put an end to this national nightmare that has now become a national embarrassment.' The Saudi government states no government officials, 'senior or otherwise — gave any 'direction' to Omar Al Bayoumi or Fahad Al Thumairy to 'assist' … 9/11 hijackers.' Any contact, the Saudis add, was 'innocent motives … to help fellow Saudis' new to San Diego. Those Saudis, Nawaf Al Hazmi and Khalid Al Mihdhar, were the first 9/11 hijackers to set up shop in America after landing in Los Angeles, according to multiple reports. Bayoumi and Thumairy, both Saudi officials, are accused of assisting them, court documents allege. The hijackers plowed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on 9/11. All 64 people aboard, including five hijackers, were killed. Another 125 victims on the ground also died. Of all the 19 hijackers, 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia. They were all affiliated with al Qaeda and hijacked four jets, killing nearly 3,000 people. American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 — both out of Logan International Airport in Boston — slammed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan 18 minutes apart, beginning at 8:45 a.m. on 9/11. United Flight 93 crashed last in Shanksville, Pa., at 10:03 a.m. after heroic passengers rushed the cabin to confront the terrorists. Forty passengers and crew perished when the jet crashed soon after. That's the jet Eagleson says was destined for Washington, D.C. and that's why the video evidence, he says, is so crucial. Plus, if the federal judge allows the case against Saudi Arabia to proceed, discovery can begin on other terror cells — including one in the Boston area. 'The children on 9/11 need to know that someone cares,' said McGinley. 'Believe me, they are suffering more than ever.' ___ © 2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
