More strain on US-Saudi relationship after senate passes bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue Riyadh

The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, approved by a voice vote in the United States senate on Tuesday, will now be taken up by the lower chamber of the US congress, putting the legislature on a collision course with president Barack Obama.

Senator John Cornyn (pictured left) and senator Chuck Schumer (right), the Reublican and Democratic backers of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, take questions during a news conference on the bill on Tuesday. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFPShow less

Abu Dhabi // The frayed US-Saudi relationship is on course for further turbulence after a bill that would allow Riyadh to be sued by 9/11 victims’ families passed the senate unanimously.

The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, approved by a voice vote in the United States senate on Tuesday, will now be taken up by the lower chamber of the US congress, putting the legislature on a collision course with the president.

The White House has said Barack Obama will veto the bill, arguing that the removal of sovereign immunity for foreign governments in domestic courts will set a precedent that will put Americans and US assets at legal risk abroad.

The bill, in particular, would allow lawsuits against Saudi Arabia, brought by 9/11 victims’ families in New York federal court, to proceed. These lawsuits are currently blocked by the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

“Given the concerns that we’ve expressed, it’s difficult to imagine the president signing this legislation,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said after the senate vote. The US administration may seek to have the bill altered to address its concerns or have it killed in the house altogether, Mr Earnest added.

The bill’s Democratic sponsor, senior senator Charles Schumer of New York, predicted that enough of his fellow party members would support an override of the veto to reach the requisite two-thirds congressional supermajority. He argued that because the legislation only pertains to terrorism carried out inside the country it will not open the door for lawsuits against the US overseas.

“If the Saudis did not participate in this terrorism, they have nothing to fear about going to court,” Mr Schumer said. “If they did, they should be held accountable.”

But if the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act eventually becomes law, it could seriously undermine ties with Riyadh.

The New York Times reported in April that Saudi foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir had warned members of congress his country would sell US$750 billion (Dh2.75 trillion) in US assets if the bill was passed. In a statement issued earlier this month, however, Mr Al Jubeir denied making this threat.

On Monday, the US treasury made public for the first time in more than 40 years the size of Riyadh’s holdings of US treasury debt – $116.8bn – though its overall assets in the US are likely worth more.

“In fact what they are doing is stripping the principle of sovereign immunities, which would turn the world of international law into the law of the jungle,” Mr Al Jubeir said in the statement.

Economists and analysts doubt that Riyadh would actually follow through in selling off its holdings, as it would have dire economic repercussions at a time of increasing fiscal pressures in the kingdom.

The bill, which was unsuccessfully put forward twice before, has emerged again as calls increase on the White House to declassify a controversial 28-page portion of the US 9/11 Commission report on the attacks. The pages allegedly include details on the role played by lower-level Saudi diplomats in the US in providing financial and logistical support for a number of the hijackers during their time in America ahead of the attacks.

Earlier this month the White House said it was nearing completion of a review of whether to declassify the pages.

In 2004, after an investigation of any official Saudi role, the commission said it found no evidence that the Saudi government “as an institution” was part of the plot or that “senior officials” were involved. The co-chairmen of the report issued a statement last month warning that the pages contain “raw, unvetted material”, that might incorrectly implicate innocent people

But in recent weeks, senior members of the commission have said publicly that there is evidence in those pages that indicate a number of low-level Saudi diplomats in the US, at least one of whom was suspected of being an intelligence agent, were part of a support network for a number of the attackers.

Over the past year and a half, the US National Archives has quietly declassified a number of documents from the commission’s 2004 investigation that provide a window into the content of the 28 pages. The documents are memos by the commission’s staff that include notes on the interrogations in the kingdom of former Saudi officials suspected of being part of the support network, but who were never prosecuted. The memos also catalogue connections between a handful of former officials and the hijackers.

At the time of the 2004 investigation, the then Saudi foreign minister, Saud Al Faisal, said Riyadh supported the declassification of the 28 pages, as it would show 9/11 was not a plot supported by the Saudi state.