Judge Order 9-11 Lawsuit Defendants to Submit Records Dating to 1992

December 22, 2007

Saturday, December 22, 2007

NEW YORK - Defendants in lawsuits resulting from the Sept. 11 terrorist

attacks must turn over materials from as far back as 1992, when it appears

that Usama bin Laden called for a holy war against the United States, a

federal judge said Friday.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels affects defendants in

lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages from numerous banks,

charities and individuals worldwide who are alleged to have supported Al

Qaeda before the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Daniels said it was reasonable to require organizations such as the Muslim

World League, the International Islamic Relief Organization and Wa'el

Jelaidan to turn over evidence necessary to decide the merits of lawsuits

brought by representatives, survivors and insurance carriers of the victims

of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The groups had argued that they should not be required to turn over

documents that were made prior to 1996, when Usama bin Laden issued a fatwah

declaring war on Americans. They also argued that the materials were overly

burdensome and outweighed any potential value to plaintiffs.

In ruling, Daniels noted that 1992 was the year when bin Laden is alleged to

have joined other senior Al Qaeda leaders to issue a formal fatwah calling

for violence against the United States and other Western allies.

Lawyers for defendants in the lawsuits have said it was unfair to require

them to turn over the earlier documents because the defendants were not

adequately put on notice about Al Qaeda's terrorist activities towards the

United States until the 1996 fatwah.

A message left with a lawyer for defendants was not immediately returned

Friday.

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