New Evidence Including Aircraft Diagram and Video Footage Intensifies Scrutiny of Alleged Saudi Intelligence Links to 9/11 Hijackers

A BBC Panorama and Radio 4 investigation obtained previously unseen video showing Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national central to a $1 trillion 9/11 families' lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, embracing Anwar al-Awlaki and paintballing with him near San Diego alongside an official from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Islamic Affairs 12. British counter-terrorism officers arrested Bayoumi on 21 September 2001 and recovered the footage along with a handwritten diagram of an aircraft with flight-descent calculations found at his Birmingham property 13. US District Judge George Daniels ruled in 2025 that the case could proceed to trial, finding the diagram "facially connects Bayoumi with knowledge of the 9/11 Attacks," though he found no evidence senior Saudi officials knew of the plot in advance 3. The BBC reported the diagram was analyzed by the FBI's New York office but never reached agents investigating Bayoumi in San Diego, was withheld from British interrogators despite being couriered to the station where he was held, and was not shown to the 9/11 Commission; the BBC found the Commission excluded the paintball footage and other material later cited by the families 13. Bayoumi, the Saudi government, and the FBI did not respond to the BBC's requests for comment 1.