Key facts
- New video evidence links Omar al-Bayoumi, a key figure in a $1 trillion 9/11 lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, to Saudi government officials and Anwar al-Awlaki, a future al-Qaeda leader.
- Footage shows Bayoumi and Awlaki paintballing near San Diego with a Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs official.
- The videos and a plane diagram with descent calculations were found among Bayoumi's possessions after his arrest following the 9/11 attacks.
- The 9/11 families' lawsuit alleges Saudi complicity and that Bayoumi aided two of the 19 hijackers.
- Evidence gathered by the FBI about Bayoumi was allegedly not fully pursued over 25 years.
New video evidence obtained by the BBC reveals extensive links between Omar al-Bayoumi, a central figure in a $1 trillion lawsuit brought by 9/11 families against Saudi Arabia, and Saudi government officials, as well as Anwar al-Awlaki, who later led al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The footage, acquired by the FBI within days of the 2001 attacks, directly contradicts Bayoumi's 25-year denial of being an extremist or a Saudi spy. One clip shows Bayoumi embracing Awlaki, and another depicts them paintballing near San Diego with an official from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Islamic Affairs.
These videos, never before shown publicly, are part of the lawsuit's argument that Saudi Arabia was complicit in the attacks and that Bayoumi aided two of the 19 hijackers. Bayoumi was arrested in the UK days after 9/11, and the videos were found among his possessions, alongside a diagram of a plane with flight descent calculations.
Despite the FBI having copies of the diagram, it was reportedly not shared with British interrogators or some FBI agents investigating Bayoumi, nor with the 9/11 Commission. Bayoumi was never prosecuted. A US Department of Justice official told the BBC that they had never been shown a proposal to prosecute Bayoumi based on the evidence, despite having convicted people for lesser offenses.
Bayoumi, who claimed to be a student in the US, had reportedly abandoned his studies and was often seen organizing religious events. Agents were told that some participants in the paintball sessions were training for jihad. Bayoumi denied meeting Awlaki in a 2021 deposition, a claim contradicted by the video evidence which was later made public.
Saudi Arabia and Bayoumi have consistently denied any involvement in or prior knowledge of the attacks. The FBI declined to comment. Thousands of documents, videos, and photographs have been released to the court since a judge ruled the lawsuit could proceed in 2018.