US 9/11 bill weakens international relations, Saudi cabinet says

A US law allowing citizens to sue the kingdom over the 9/11 attacks in 2001 represent a threat to international relations, Saudi Arabia said on Monday, urging congress to act to prevent any dangerous consequences from the new legislation.

The cabinet also said that the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act – or Jasta – represented a violation of a leading principle preventing lawsuits against governments that regulated international relations for hundreds of years.

“Weakening this sovereign immunity will affect all countries, including the United States,” said the statement by Saudi information minister Adel Al Toraifi, reported Saudi state news agency SPA.

“[The cabinet] expressed hope that wisdom will prevail and that the US Congress would take the necessary steps to avoid the bad and dangerous consequences that may result from the Jasta legislation,” it said.

The US senate and house of representatives voted overwhelmingly last Wednesday to approve legislation that will allow the families of those killed in the 2001 attacks on the United States to seek damages from the Saudi government.

Fifteen out of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.

Riyadh has always dismissed suspicions that it backed the attackers, who killed nearly 3,000 people under the banner of militant group Al Qaeda.

Riyadh is one of Washington’s longest-standing and most important allies in the Middle East and part of a US-led coalition fighting ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria.

The Saudi government lobbied strongly against the bill in the run-up to the vote, and warned it would undermine the principle of sovereign immunity.

But Saudi officials stopped short of threatening any specific retaliation if the law was passed.

* Reuters