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The annual Tribute in Light illuminated on the skyline of lower Manhattan on the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as seen from Jersey City, September 11, 2019. /VCG Photo
The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday that it would unmask the long-protected name of a Saudi official who allegedly had ties to the Al-Qaida perpetrators of the attacks on September 11, 2001.
In response to years of pressure from families of the victims of the attacks, the FBI and the Justice Department decided to declassify the name of the Saudi official "in light of the extraordinary circumstances of this particular case."
The person was the third of three main Saudi officials referred to in an FBI report into the attacks as having allegedly assisted some of the attackers after they arrived in the United States.
In all 19 men, 15 of them Saudis, took part in the plot to hijack four airliners and crash them into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and possibly the White House or Congress.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, and families have sued seeking damages from the Saudi government.
A boy honors the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks at what was ground zero at the World Trade Center during a ceremony to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the attacks in New York, September 11, 2019. /VCG Photo
An official report into the attacks in 2002 said that some of the attackers had received funds from Saudi officials, "at least two" of whom were "alleged by some to be Saudi intelligence officers." The two were Fahad al-Thumairy and Omar al-Bayoumi, both attached to Saudi Arabia's U.S. embassy at the time.
Subsequent investigations rejected the claim that they were involved with the hijackers.
But in 2012, a redacted FBI report repeated the allegations and referred to a third person who may have directed them, but blacked out his name.
Rumors have tied the individual to the Saudi royal family. But his identity has always been kept classified as Washington and Riyadh worked closely after the attacks to root out Al-Qaida's networks throughout the Middle East and South Asia.
People gather around the One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, above the National September 11 Memorial, during a commemoration ceremony for the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, on the attacks' 18th anniversary in New York, September 11, 2019. /VCG Photo
"The FBI recognizes the need and desire of victims' families to understand what happened to their loved ones and to hold those responsible accountable," the Justice Department said.
The Justice Department did not say when the name would become public, and it plans to supply it to the court first.
But it suggested the individual might not have been involved with the Al-Qaida plotters.
"The information referring to that individual refers to an investigative theory being pursued by the FBI at that time, and does not represent an objective statement of fact," it said.