The 11 September attacks: 25 years on, Mamdani’s revelations and the Saudi Arabia link

Twenty-five years after that collective trauma, there are still grey areas and new revelations. The current mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani has announced the release of 170,000 documents suggesting that the city authorities at the time lied about the health risks surrounding the site of the attack.

The allegation is serious: the authorities knew that the air around the World Trade Centre was unbreathable, but nevertheless urged members of the public to go to the area and return to their homes. The aim is said to have been to minimise the economic impact of the attacks.

The documents reveal that the air contained toxic and carcinogenic substances, including asbestos and mercury, even months after the attack. In fact, beneath the site of the Twin Towers’ collapse, a number of underground fires continued to burn until December 2001, helping to keep the levels of contamination detected by the analyses made public high.

The mayor of New York at that time was Rudolph Giuliani, who was succeeded shortly afterwards by Michael Bloomberg. Both have always been highly critical of Mamdani, who, with these revelations – even though he did not name them explicitly – has dealt a severe blow to his political opponents.

The news has sparked outrage amongst the emergency services, first and foremost the fire brigade, many of whom have paid the ultimate price. “We are in disbelief. It is shocking that they have done this to us. They have sacrificed citizens and rescue workers. We were dying with every breath and they knew it,” said James Brosi, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association.

However, even if the documents establish the city’s liability, this does not necessarily mean that the victims’ relatives can take legal action against the city. Indeed, many are already receiving compensation from the Victim Compensation Fund set up by the federal government, which, under the terms of an agreement, prevents them from taking legal action against New York.

After all this time, new details are also emerging regarding responsibility for the attack. A few days before the twenty-fifth anniversary of 11 September, a drawing of an aeroplane was found in the notebook of Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national believed to be one of the key figures behind the attack, along with mathematical calculations relating to the collapse of a building.

This is the latest development in the civil case for one trillion dollars brought by the victims’ families against Saudi Arabia, which is suspected of having offered support and protection to the terrorists responsible.

Attempts have long been made to establish Riad’s role. Al-Bayoumi was arrested in England just eleven days after the attack, on 22 September 2001. According to the findings of subsequent investigations, he helped to find a flat in California for two of the hijackers involved in the attacks and was suspected of being a spy for the Saudi government.

Along with the drawing, in fact, a number of videos have also resurfaced showing Bayoumi alongside several officials from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. This ministry, established in 1993, is regarded by American investigators as the nerve centre of a network spreading Islamic extremism around the world.

Officially, Saudi Arabia – where al-Bayoumi has since returned to live – rejects any allegations of complicity in the attack. Meanwhile, the legal action, authorised by a federal judge last year, is due to be heard on 7 October at the New York Court of Appeal to determine whether the case can proceed to trial.