New Video Evidence Shows Ties Between 9/11 Defendant and Saudi Officials

Mon Sep 07 2026 23:26:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Shots of Omar al-Bayoumi with al‑Awlaki and Saudi ministers emerge, raising questions about the FBI’s handling of critical evidence.

BBC Panorama uncovered video footage that links the 9/11 courtroom defendant Omar al‑Bayoumi with Saudi government officials and future al‑Qaeda leader Anwar al‑Awlaki. The clips, seized in Birmingham after the just‑released Bayoumi, show him paint‑balling with Awlaki and greeting a Saudi minister. The evidence was held back from American investigators and never used to charge Bayoumi, while a handwritten plane diagram in his possession was meant to prove knowledge of the attacks. A recent jury ruling allows families suing Saudi Arabia to see the documents, calling the FBI’s handling a major oversight. The story highlights how key evidence was shunted between governments and how key testimonies were ruled out of the US justice system.

New Video Evidence Shows Ties Between 9/11 Defendant and Saudi Officials

BBC Panorama has unearthed a series of home‑recorded videos that place former 9/11 defendant Omar al‑Bayoumi in the company of Saudi government officials and Al‑Qaeda’s future commander Anwar al‑Awlaki. The footage was seized by British police in Birmingham in the days after the attacks and held in a sealed carrier bag, never seen by U.S. investigators until a recent court filing.

Paintballing with a Future Al‑Qaeda Leader

One clip shows Bayoumi and Awlaki paint‑balling in a San‑Diego backyard, complete with military fatigues and shouting “Allahu Akbar.” Bayoumi can be heard addressing Awlaki as “Sheikh,” and a Saudi ministry official is also visible in the background. The session, shot in 1997 or early 1998, was intended to “train for jihad” and is now considered “the smoking‑gun evidence” by the 9/11 families’ legal team.

A Plane Diagram That Could Link Bayoumi to the Attacks

In his Birmingham home Bayoumi left a handwritten paper that sketches a commercial airliner and calculates a descent height. The equations, written in his own hand, calculate the distance a pilot would need to drop the aircraft to hit the ground. The hard copy was couriered to the U.S. FBI on 22 September and, according to a federal judge, “connects Bayoumi with knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.” The FBI’s own written notes say the diagram was never shared with the U.K. investigators in the custody suite.

Missing Evidence and Offices in Conflict

The footage and hard‑copy diagram never made it to the San‑Diego FBI field office, where Bayoumi had lived in the United States and where the Department of Justice expected to probe any extremist links. San‑Diego agents repeatedly asked the New York office for copies of Bayoumi’s evidence but received none. Both the FBI and U.K. police blocked interviews with Saudi officials who had met Bayoumi, citing diplomatic protections.

Why No Charges?

In 2001 Bayoumi was released by the U.K. after 36 hours of detention. The FBI later said that although the evidence was “convincing enough to convict people for less,” it had never been passed to the prosecutors who could have charged him with material‑support to terrorism. The 2018 court ruling allowed the 9/11 families to release the videos to the public under a new Biden‑issued executive order.

Implications for the Saudi Connection Theory

These revelations underscore that Saudi officials and ministries were in close contact with Bayoumi prior to and after the attacks. The 9/11 Commission report, published in 2004, cleared him of extremist ties, but internal notes show some members of the commission questioned that judgment. Today the footage and the diagram resonate with families who claim Saudi assistance in the attacks.

For more detail, viewers can watch the full Panorama program on iPlayer or the accompanying Radio 4 podcast for a deeper dive into the evidence and its implications.