The 9/11 families’ long‑running lawsuit against Saudi Arabia claims the Kingdom assisted the hijackers. New video footage, identified by the BBC, shows Omar al‑Bayoumi – the man at the center of the case – embracing future al‑Qaida leader Anwar al‑Awlaki and paint‑balling with Saudi ministry officials in San Diego in 1997‑98.
Bayoumi, who has spent the last 25 years denying any extremist ties, asked journalists if he met Awlaki. The footage, first found in his Birmingham home, has never been publicly released before this investigation.
In addition to the videos, a hand‑drawn plane diagram was seized in Bayoumi’s house, showing the height of a plane relative to the horizon – a formula used to calculate a jet’s descent trajectory. The diagram is part of the “smoking gun” evidence cited by 9/11 families. An FBI memorandum in 2002 noted the need to investigate the diagram but no charges were later filed against Bayoumi.
Despite a judge ruling the lawsuit could proceed in 2018, thousands of documents, photographs and videos were hand‑delivered to the court following a 2022 executive order by President Joe Biden. Yet the FBI and UK investigators never received the camera footage or the diagram, and never asked Bayoumi about his ties to Awlaki.
“We’ve convicted people for less,” said Jeffrey Breinholt, former deputy director of counter‑terrorism at the Department of Justice, when asked why the evidence was ignored. He added the paint‑ball video “would have been a material support charge against Bayoumi.”
The 9/11 Commission interviewed Bayoumi in Riyadh in 2003, but never saw the diagram or the videos. Its final report cleared him of extremist views, but a review of the files in 2021 raised doubts. The Saudi government has repeatedly denied any complicity.
With the evidence now on the public docket, the lawsuit may pressure authorities to explain why prosecutors never acted on what has been called a “key piece of evidence.”
Paintballing session filmed by Bayoumi
Hand‑drawn plane diagram discovered in Birmingham
