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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 19, 2003

SCHUMER: US MUST SHOW 9/11 FAMILIES THE BLUEPRINTS OF SAUDI SUPPORT FOR AL QAEDA

New US documents identify Saudi Arabian families as among the first financial backers of Al Qaeda and show that Al Qaeda got funding from Saudi charities

Schumer to urge end to stonewalling that has kept hidden information on high-ranking Saudis who served as ''funding fathers'' of Al Qaeda

Schumer says documents could help relatives of 9/11 victims prosecute perpetrators of World Trade Center terror attacks

With hundreds of pages of new documents linking some of Saudi Arabia's most influential families to Osama bin-Laden in the possession of the Justice Department, US Senator Charles E. Schumer today urged the federal government to release all of the information it has on Saudi financiers and charities who have been tied to Al Qaeda.

"In America, we honor our country's founding fathers. But in Saudi Arabia, they honor Al Qaeda's 'funding' fathers," Schumer said. "It is unbelievable that our government is dragging its feet in making this information available to the families of World Trade Center victims. After all they have gone through, the US government should be providing these families with everything they need to achieve some measure of justice for their losses."

The families of 9/11 victims filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC yesterday to get full access to what Osama bin-Laden has called the "Golden Chain" documents. These Al Qaeda documents, which were found in Bosnia, indicate that leading Saudi bankers, industrialists and entrepreneurs played a key role forming Al Qaeda and funding the activities that led to the 9/11 attacks.

The Golden Chain documents were obtained last year in a series of raids ordered by the Supreme Court of Bosnian Herzegovina on the offices of Benevolence International Foundation, a charity suspected of having links to Al-Qaeda, and the residences of its officers. After recovering these documents, the Bosnian government immediately turned them over to the US government to help facilitate the war on terror with the understanding that copies of the documents would be returned to Bosnian authorities.

Investigators for the victims of the September 11th attacks have filed a civil action in Washington DC against Al-Qaeda's financiers and have made several requests of the US government to turn over these documents to the families. All of these requests have been turned down. In an effort to get the documents, the 9/11 families then sent the investigators to Bosnia. The Bosnian Supreme Court, anxious to have its documents returned as the US Government previously promised, filed three orders demanding that all documents seized in Bosnia be returned and that copies be provided to the 9/11 families. So far, the 9/11 families and the Bosnians have received access to less than half the documents.

On November 14, 2002, the US District Court in Washington, DC asked the Bosnian Government – under the Hague Convention – to produce these Al Qaeda documents for the families. Although the Bosnian Government is under no obligation to do so, it has indicated that it is eager to cooperate with the District Court and the families but thus far has been unable to do so because the US Department of Justice which currently holds the documents refuses to return them.

Yesterday, the 9/11 families filed a motion in Federal court in Washington asking the court to enforce the November 14, 2002 order that would compel the Department of Justice, the United States Attorney and/or the Federal Bureau of Investigation to produce all of the documents.

Schumer said the release of this information is essential to American counter-terrorism efforts and to helping the relatives of the 9/11 victims who are suing leading Saudis for their role in helping the perpetrators of the World Trade Center attacks. According to the Foundation for Democracies, the individuals on the Golden Chain list who provided funds to Al Qaeda include:

• Khalid bin Mahfouz, a leading figure in the Saudi financial community for decades;
• Saleh Kamel, chairman of the Dallah al-Baraka Group, an Islamic financial conglomerate based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;
• The Al-Rajhi family, a member of which established the SAAR Foundation, keystone of a network of Saudi-controlled entities in Northern Virginia that has been under investigation by U.S. federal authorities for sponsoring terrorism;
• Osama bin Laden's brothers, whose extensive construction and other business holdings are well-publicized, but who have claimed that they do not support Osama bin Laden's activities;
• Abd al-Rahman Al-Jumaih of Jeddah, who controls distribution of General Motors vehicles in the Saudi kingdom;
• Mohamed Yousef Naghi, who controls BMW sales throughout the kingdom, and also distributes Toyota vehicles;
• Omar Kassem al-Esayei, whose extensive interests comprise Panasonic and other electronic sales, automobiles, and media, including al-Sharq al-Awsat, the most important Saudi newspaper, which is published in London;
• Major functionaries of the global Wahhabi Islamist network. The name of Wael Hamza al-Julaidan, an officer of the of the Muslim World League (MWL), appears alongside that of Osama Bin Laden himself as a receiver of funds. Donors include Abd ar-Rahman Hasan Al-Sherbatly of the MWL, and Ibrahim al-Kuwait, deputy director of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). MWL and WAMY have been targets of worldwide inquiries into their complicity with al-Qaida funding. In addition, A.A. Batterjee, founder of Benevolence International Foundation, a target of major legal action by the U.S., Bosnian, and other authorities, appears as a recipient of donations.

Schumer was joined by Joan Molinaro and William Doyle of Staten Island, who are each parents of victims who died in the 9/11 attacks. Molinaro, who lost her firefighter son Carl on September 11 said, "It’s like cutting off the head of a snake. If you take the head off the snake, the rest of it’s going to die — and the way to stop these terrorists is to take their money. And I thank Senator Schumer for everything he has done for us. He has been so supportive of the families and has been with us from day one, ” Joan Molinaro also represents the group 911 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism.

Doyle, who lost his son Joey, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee, on September 11 said, "With what has been uncovered, we know that Al Qaeda is like a octopus with its tentacles going all over the world. On behalf of over 2,000 9/11 families. I thank Senator Schumer for all the work he has done for the 9/11 families and his support of the terrorists lawsuits."

Stephen Schwartz, Director of the Islamic and Democracy Program at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies who is an outside expert helping the families said the government of Saudi Arabia was also at fault: "The individuals listed on the document represent the elite of Saudi society outside the royal family. The disclosure of the list dramatizes the need for candor by the Saudi kingdom in its dealings with the U.S. and the world. The Saudi authorities must cease their refusal to provide the government and people of the U.S. with a full and transparent accounting of the involvement of Saudi citizens in the atrocities of September 11th and the al-Qaeda terror campaign around the world."

Schumer noted that while there may be security concerns about making this information about Al Qaeda publically available, there are numerous ways that the United States can both maintain security and give the families access to the information they need.

"When we fought for Holocaust victims and their families against the Swiss Banks and Nazi slave labor companies, we worked hard to declassify what we could and find other ways to share information in documents without compromising security. The model is there, and we must do it again for the World Trade Center victims and their families," Schumer said.

"Either we can stand up for the Saudis, or we can stand up for the 9/11 families by standing up to the Saudis. The choice is clear, and the United States should act immediately to provide this information to the families who so desperately want it,"Schumer said.

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