Lawyers Ask N.Y. Federal Judge to Find Iran Liable for Sept. 11 Terror Attacks

Larry Neumeister All Articles

The Associated Press

May 24, 2011

Lawyers representing 9/11 families are asking a federal judge to find Iran culpable in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying new evidence shows Iranian officials had advanced word of the attacks and helped train the hijackers.

The lawyers filed papers Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan saying there is " clear and convincing" evidence to conclude default judgment damages should be paid to their plaintiffs -families and personal representatives of some of those killed in the attacks.

Supporting their arguments, the lawyers cited the testimony of three defectors from Iran's intelligence service, the Ministry of Information and Security, saying they worked in positions that gave them access to sensitive information regarding Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism. They said the testimony, part of 28 hours of testimony by four witnesses, supports a claim that Iranian officials had advanced word of the attacks and that Iran helped train those who carried it out.

Iran has not responded to the lawsuit, which was first filed in Washington, D.C., and later transferred to New York. A message was left Friday with the Iranian mission to the United Nations.

The Shiite regime in Iran and al-Qaida, a Sunni group, are natural enemies, though they have sometimes had a relationship of convenience based on their shared hatred of the U.S.

The lawyers said Iran and " its proxy terrorist organization, " the Lebanese group Hezbollah, entered into a terrorist alliance with al-Qaida in the early 1990s that continued throughout the preparations for the 2001 attacks. They said Iran and Hezbollah gave material support to al-Qaida after the attacks by helping some of the terrorist group's leaders and their families escape from the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

As part of their proof, the lawyers said they were filing videotaped testimony under seal in which three defectors from Iran's intelligence service " circumstantially and directly" implicate Iran and Hezbollah in the Sept. 11 attacks. Iran and Hezbollah had " foreknowledge of, and complicity in, the overall design of, and preparations for, the 9/11 attacks, involving, but not limited to, facilitation of the hijackers' international travel, training and through Iran provision of safe haven for al-Qaida after the attacks, " the lawyers wrote.

They said the witnesses, identified in court documents only as " Witnesses X, Y and Z, " also provided testimony revealing that then-senior Hezbollah operative Imad Mughniyah had an integral role in the Iran-Hezbollah-al-Qaida terror alliance.

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