Lawyers for Saudi Arabia seek dismissal of claims it supported the Sept. 11 hijackers

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge heard arguments but won’t immediately decide if Saudi Arabia should remain a defendant in lawsuits brought by relatives of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Federal Judge George B. Daniels listened Wednesday to arguments about evidence in the two-decade-old Manhattan case. Lawyers for Saudi Arabia say the nation and the United States were partners in the 1990s against terrorism, al-Qaida and its founder, Osama bin Laden. Lawyers for relatives of 9/11 victims claim that a group of extremist religious leaders in Saudi Arabia aided the 9/11 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.