Saudi man filmed locations before 9/11
A 25-year-old video has come to light of a man identified by the FBI as a Saudi intelligence agent filming locations in the centre of Washington three months before Al-Qaida decided to carry out the 9/11 attacks.
The footage, shot in the summer of 1999 and in the possession of the FBI, was unsealed in a court action by families of the victims of 9/11, who claim that Saudi Arabia’s government was complicit in the event, which the country’s rulers deny. It was obtained by CBS and shown on the 60 Minutes programme.
The video includes commentary from the man, Omar al-Bayoumi, about various locations in the city, including the Washington monument and the entry points and security
arrangements of the US Capitol building, and referring at one point to a “plan”.
The Capitol is believed to have been the target of one of the planes before its hijackers were overwhelmed by passengers, causing it to crash into the Pennsylvania countryside.
Saudi authorities have long denied complicity or support
for 9/11, as does Bayoumi..
The film was initially found by UK investigators in Bayoumi’s flat after the attack in 2001, when he was a PhD student at Aston University in Birmingham. The flat also contained an address book that lawyers for the families say contains the contacts of officials in the Saudi government at the time. Scotland Yard gave the footage to the FBI.
Saudi Arabia has always denied that Bayoumi was its agent.
Another bureau report declassified the year before says he gave significant help to the pair after their arrival in the US, and communicated with a key logistics facilitator for Osama bin Laden each time he assisted them.
The FBI claims that when Bayoumi was shooting the video, he was with two Saudi Arabian diplomats who the bureau said had ties to alQaida.
The Capitol is believed to have been the target of one of the planes before its hijackers were overwhelmed by passengers, causing it to crash in the Pennsylvania countryside.
Saudi authorities have denied complicity or support for 9/11, as does Bayoumi.