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More than 3,000
people died in the attacks
Relatives of victims of the 11 September attacks
have filed a trillion dollar lawsuit against various parties accusing
them of financing Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network and Afghanistan's
former Taleban regime.The families hope to
"bankrupt" those they accuse of sponsoring terrorism
Those accused include the country of Sudan, three members of the Saudi
royal family - including the Saudi foreign minister - and various Islamic
charities, in addition to seven financial institutions and the Bin Laden
family's Saudi construction firm.
More than 600 family members, firefighters
and rescue workers, calling themselves the 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt
Terrorism, are seeking the money "to force the sponsors of terror
into the light and subject them to the rule of law", according to
the suit.
Exposing financial support
Correspondents say
the lawyers who are launching this case claim hundreds more families of
victims of the attacks will join them. We're trying to expose the extent,
the depth, the orchestration, the financial support that terrorist organisations
have received for perhaps a decade from various Saudi interests Lawyer
Allan Gerson.
So far the suit brings together families of victims from Argentina, Canada,
France, Paraguay, South Africa and the United States. They
also accused the US Government of failing to pursue such institutions
thoroughly enough because of lucrative oil interests. The
families acknowledged at a news conference held to publicise the suit
that they faced huge odds, but said they were confident the US courts
would uphold their claim.
"It's up to us, and I think we can do
it," said Deena Burnett, whose husband was killed on Flight 93 which
crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania.
"It's up to us to bankrupt the terrorists
and those who finance them so they will never again have the resources
to commit such atrocities against the American people as we experienced
on September 11." Lawyer Allan Gerson,
who also worked on a lawsuit for families of victims of the 1988 Pan Am
airline Lockerbie bombing, said that the suit was aimed at uncovering
the complicated financial transactions which funded the 11 September attacks.
"We're trying to expose the extent,
the depth, the orchestration, the financial support that terrorist organisations
have received for perhaps a decade from various Saudi interests."
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