WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department said Thursday that it would unmask the long-protected name of a Saudi official who allegedly had ties to the Al-Qaeda perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Responding to years of pressure from families of the victims of the attacks, the FBI and the Justice Department decided to declassify the name of the Saudi official “in light of the extraordinary circumstances of this particular case”. The case has long threatened to embarrass the Saudi government, which has repeatedly denied links to Al-Qaeda, and leave it exposed to claims of damages that could reach into the billions of dollars. – AFP
