Relatives of the victims of the attacks, who are suing Saudi Arabia for providing material assistance to Al Qaeda, have called for the lifting of the secrecy surrounding this individual.
"In light of the exceptional nature of this case", the FBI and the Ministry of Justice have decided to give them satisfaction, according to a document sent to the judge in charge of the case.
Saudi Arabia, which denies the slightest involvement in the attacks, fought hard to prevent the complaint from progressing. If her responsibility were proven, she could be asked for substantial compensation.
Among the 19 pirates who hijacked four airliners, two of which were thrown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000, 15 were Saudi nationals.
An official 2002 report accused two US-based Saudi officials, Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy, of funding some commando members. But no evidence had subsequently substantiated these accusations.
In a report investigated expurgated many information, the FBI had relaunched in 2012 this assumption. "There is evidence that XXX has ordered al-Bayoumi and al-Thumairy to help the pirates," reads it.
The relatives of the victims have fought long to have access to the entire document.
The Ministry of Justice has agreed to lift the secrecy on the name of this "third party" but not on the other information contained in this report.
In addition, he pointed out that the sentence in question was "a theory of investigators at the time and not an objective description of facts".
The families of the victims nevertheless welcomed the announcement of the declassification to come. "It's a good result," said Terry Strada, who represents them. "But we should not have to beg for this type of information or be left in the dark about Saudi involvement," she said in a statement.
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