TerrorismSaudi Arabia lobbies U.S. lawmakers to amend terrorism compensation law

Published 19 December 2016

Saudi Arabia has intensified its lobbying campaign in the United States in an effort to persuade American lawmakers to change a the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a law which allows victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to sue countries implicated in terrorism against the United States – but a law which even its authors said was aimed at Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has intensified its lobbying campaign in the United States in an effort to persuade American lawmakers to change a the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a law which allows victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to sue countries implicated in terrorism against the United States – but a law which even its authors said was aimed at Saudi Arabia.

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir has returned from a weekend trip to the United States, in which, he said, he tried to “persuade them [U.S. lawmakers] that there needs to be an amendment of the law.”

President Barack Obama vetoed JASTA, arguing that it would open up the United States to private lawsuits relating to the U.S. military missions overseas.

Congress overruled the veto, and JASTA became law on 28 September.

“We believe the law, that curtails sovereign immunities, represents a grave danger to the international system,” Jubeir said at a press conference with U.S. secretary of state John Kerry.

Al Arabiya notes that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 11 September 2001 were Saudi, and that a two of them may have been helped find an apartment by Saudi embassy officials. The Kingdom, however, has adamantly denied any connection to the attacks.

JASTA allows families of victims of terrorist attacks to sue foreign governments in U.S. federal court if it can be proven that individuals or agencies affiliated with that foreign government were involved in supporting terrorism.

Lawyers in the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and other countries have already urged lawmakers in their countries to make changes in law which would allow legal action in these countries’ courts against U.S. officials.

Jubeir pointedly warned that JASTA would threaten the norm of sovereign immunity — a key principle of international relations.

“The United States is, by eroding this principle, opening the door for other countries to take similar steps and then before you know it international order becomes governed by the law of the jungle,” Jubeir said.

The administration, for several months now, has been discussing with Saudi Arabia changes to the law, discussion which have angered the families of the 9/11 victims. Terry Strada, a spokeswoman for the 9/11 Families and Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism, whose husband died in the attack, said that the discussions with Saudi Arabia were “outrageous.”  

“By siding with Saudi Arabia and working to torpedo JASTA, secretary Kerry is snubbing his constitutional obligations and asking all of us to turn our backs on our pursuit of justice,” Strada said.

Jubeir told reporters that his country was not considering withdrawing investments from the United States.

As of March 2016, Saudi investments in the United States amounted to $116.8 billion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.