Revealed: Saudi's new links to 9/11

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Aug 3, 2003 | by Neil Mackay INVESTIGATION

EVIDENCE that Saudi Arabia played a significant role in funding al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks on America is mounting, with allegations that a senior Saudi diplomat channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds to bin Laden terrorists and was connected to at least one of the hijack conspirators as well as other Islamic extremists.

Muhammad J Fakihi was, until recently, the acting chief of the Islamic affairs section at the Saudi embassy in Berlin. Under pressure from Washington, Fakihi has been interrogated in Saudi Arabia.

US officials believe he was "organisationally involved" with al- Qaeda. Some (pounds) 500,000 was sent out in donations from the embassy after Fakihi arrived in 2001. German investigators also uncovered that Fakihi's business card was found in the Hamburg flat of Moroccan student Mounir el-Motassadeq, who was convicted of aiding and abetting the September 11 attacks.

El-Motassadeq had trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 2000, managed the bank account of one of the hijackers and been a witness to the will of their ringleader, Muhammad Atta. The Saudi embassy in Berlin has failed to respond to requests from German prosecutors to explain an alleged meeting between Fakihi and el- Motassadeq in Berlin shortly before el-Motassadeq was arrested in November 2001.

German police also have evidence which points towards Fakihi meeting another suspected al-Qaeda terror cell leader, Ihsan Garnaoui, at Berlin's Al Nur mosque. The mosque is allegedly a haven for Islamic extremists. During a raid on the suspected terror cell in March this year, police arrested six men and seized bomb-making equipment, flight-simulator software and chemicals.

German police spoke again to the Saudi embassy about Fakihi, and threatened to declare him persona non grata, but four days after the raid he returned to Riyadh, where he was apparently questioned by the Saudi authorities.

Saudi Arabia is under intense scrutiny over the many links between the kingdom and its officials with al-Qaeda and September 11. Suspicion has lingered around the Saudis since the world learned that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis - as is the al-Qaeda leader, bin Laden.

Last week's congressional report in the US on the September 11 attacks has cast more suspicion on the kingdom. The Bush administration has refused to release or de-classify 28 pages dealing specifically with whether Saudi Arabia aided the hijackers.

One Saudi connection which is covered in the report centres on a suspected Saudi intelligence agent named Omar al-Bayoumi, who is accused of aiding two hijackers. Al-Bayoumi is thought to have visited a high-ranking Saudi official before meeting the two terrorists.

Al-Bayoumi moved to California in the mid-1990s. He told local Muslims he was a business student at a San Diego university, but the college has no record of him. He also had access to huge amounts of cash. On one occasion, he bought a mosque for (pounds) 250,000. In 1998, he came to the notice of the FBI when he received a package from the Middle East filled with wiring. Al-Bayoumi is also remembered for driving around in a dilapidated old car which he suddenly exchanged for a brand-new Mercedes.

In January 2000, he visited the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, where he is suspected of meeting Fahad al-Thumairy, one of the consulate's staff at the Islamic and culture affairs section. Last March, al-Thumairy was stripped of his diplomatic visa and barred from the US, allegedly on the grounds of having suspected terror links.

When al-Bayoumi left the consulate, he travelled to a restaurant where he met Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. The pair had just come back from an al-Qaeda terror summit in Malaysia - they would later take part in the September 11 hijackings. Al-Bayoumi took the two hijackers to San Diego, found them a flat and gave them two months' rent. The pair later rented another apartment from a businessman friend of al-Bayoumi.

In July 2001, al-Bayoumi left San Diego for Birmingham in England. After the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, he was interrogated by Scotland Yard detectives and the FBI. He denied knowing that al-Hamzi and al-Mihdhar were terrorists, claiming their meeting had been accidental and he had merely helped them in the spirit of Muslim brotherhood. He was eventually released and returned to Saudi Arabia. The US congressional report refers to the FBI's best source in San Diego claiming that al-Bayoumi "must be an intelligence officer for Saudi or another foreign power".

It is believed that the classified section of the congressional report says that the Saudi embassy in London was pushing for al- Bayoumi's release.

Al-Bayoumi insists he is innocent. Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has agreed to allow al-Bayoumi to be interviewed by the FBI and CIA in Riyadh - but only in the presence of Saudi officials. The Saudis have refused to hand al-Bayoumi over to the US for questioning. Prince Saud also rejects allegations that Saudi officials were involved in September 11, saying the accusers "must have a morbid imagination".