An FBI informant who shared his home with two of the 9/11 hijackers has been accused in civil court of being “co-opted” by Saudi Arabian intelligence to help carry out the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
That informant, Dr. Abdussattar Shaikh, was presented in the 9/11 Commission Report as “an apparently law-abiding citizen with friendly, long-standing contacts among local police and FBI personnel.” Shaikh was recruited as an informant in 1994, according to his handler.
But according to plaintiffs suing Saudi Arabia for its role in 9/11, at some point Dr. Shaikh was “hired” by Saudi intelligence agent and Omar al-Bayoumi to house the two hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.
“It was a plan that had been carefully and meticulously developed by Bayoumi in conjunction with other Saudi officials,” a plaintiffs’ lawyer argued at a July 31 court hearing, according to the Florida Bulldog.
Bombshell report by @Florida_Bulldog
— Adam Fitzgerald (@_AdamFitzgerald) September 15, 2024
"Dr. Abdussattar Shaikh, the FBI informant who shared his home with Flight 77 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, had in fact been “co-opted” by a Saudi intelligence asset."https://t.co/tyakThqWIF
The Saudi government denied that al-Bayoumi hired Dr. Shaikh, reportedly arguing in a court filing that “there is no evidence he had anything to do with [the hijackers] moving into Shaikh’s house.”
Dr. Shaikh’s FBI handlers have also defended the man. His handling agent, Steven Butler, told the 9/11 Commission that Shaikh was “duped” by the hijackers, while former San Diego FBI chief William Gore recently told the Florida Bulldog that Shaikh was “one of the finest guys I ever met.”
Dr. Shaikh, for his part, was reportedly “too old and ill” to be formally interviewed for the long-running civil litigation. A New York federal judge is expected to rule soon on whether the lawsuit against Saudi Arabia will be allowed to continue.
The allegations against Dr. Shaikh follow several other revelations that have come out in recent months, implicating Saudi Arabia in 9/11.
Those revelations included a long-suppressed video showing al-Bayoumi “casing” Capitol Hill in June 1999—months before al-Qaeda made the decision to include Washington DC in its terrorist plot. Numerous investigators believe the Capitol building was the target of Flight 93, which instead crashed in Pennsylvania.
More recently, last month it was revealed that sketches plotting the 9/11 attack belonged to al-Bayoumi.
Pretty interesting development in the long-running 9/11 civil litigation. It was revealed earlier this month that attack plans pictured on the left belong to the man on the right--a Saudi agent and alleged CIA asset pic.twitter.com/wNTvS0GTpB
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) August 15, 2024
Families of 9/11 victims argued in a 71-page brief filed on May 7 that al-Bayoumi operated under the directions of the Saudi Kingdom. Along with “casing” the Capitol, he served as the handler for al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar.
Additionally, new evidence in recent years has suggested that not only was al-Bayoumi a Saudi agent; he was also an asset of the CIA. That information has been coming from the proceedings against 9/11 defendants at Guantanamo Bay.
According to Office of Military Commissions investigator Don Canestraro, at least two FBI agents told him that the CIA had attempted to recruit two of the hijackers as informants. The CIA was directing its recruiting efforts through al-Bayoumi, according to Canestraro.
Canestraro has also implicated Dr. Shaikh of having received money from the Saudis while working as an FBI informant.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
