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Plan kraschar in i World Trade Center i New York, 11 september 2001. (436 / AP)

FBI ändrar sig: Saudisk student som hjälpte terrorister var spion

Saudiske studenten Omar al-Bayoumi hjälpte två av al-Qaida-terroristerna bakom elfte september-attackerna när de kom till USA i början av år 2000. USA och Saudiarabien har hävdat att han var ovetande om deras avsikter, men nya FBI-dokument slår fast att han i själva verket var saudisk spion. Det enligt den ideella granskande redaktionen Pro Publica.

I dokumenten står att Bayoumi jobbade på uppdrag av saudisk underrättelsetjänst och rapporterade till landets ambassadör i Washington. Uppgifterna har enligt sajten blivit en central del av den utdragna rättprocessen kring Saudiarabiens roll i terrorattackerna för drygt 20 år sedan.

Anhöriga till offren menar genom sina advokater att de nya bevisen motsäger de tidigare påståendena från Saudiarabien i så hög grad att man borde få tillstånd att söka mer information om Bayoumi och ytterligare en person som ska ha hjälpt flygplanskaparna.

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Omar al-Bayoumi
Wikipedia (en)
Omar al-Bayoumi (Arabic: عمر البيومي, romanized: ʿUmar al-Bayyūmī; born c. 1958) is a Saudi national linked to two of the 9/11 hijackers in the United States, though he says he simply befriended the pair rather than ran them as agents. Files of the US FBI dating to before the attacks demonstrate that he was a Saudi Arabian intelligence agent. An FBI report declassified in September 2021 lays out evidence that al-Bayoumi had links to known terrorists, provided significant support to 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar upon their arrival in the US, and communicated with a key logistics facilitator for Osama bin Laden, each time immediately following significant logistics support to Hazmi and Mihdhar. An FBI report declassified in March 2022 lays out evidence that "there is a 50/50 chance [al-Bayoumi] had advanced knowledge the 9/11 attacks were to occur." from the two Islamists he befriended that were involved in plotting 9/11. al-Bayoumi also helped the Islamists find housing in San Diego.Saudi Arabia claims that al-Bayoumi is not an agent of theirs. According to previously-classified memoranda released by the National Archives in May 2016, as of 6 June 2003, the FBI "believes it is possible that he was an agent of the Saudi Government and that he may have been reporting on the local [Saudi] community to the Saudi Government officials. In addition, during its investigation, the FBI discovered that al-Bayoumi has ties to terrorist elements as well."
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