New Video Evidence Shines Light on Saudi Links to 9/11

Mon Sep 07 2026 23:48:29 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Secret footage from an early 2000s paintball session reveals ties between Omar al-Bayoumi, Anwar al‑Awlaki and Saudi officials, adding fresh evidence to the families’ lawsuit.

BBC Panorama investigators have unearthed previously unseen video footage that shows 9/11 suspect Omar al‑Bayoumi engaging in paintball with future al‑Qaeda leader Anwar al‑Awlaki and a Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs official. The clips, taken in San Diego in the late 1990s, contradict Bayoumi’s decades‑long denials of extremist ties. They also bring to light a handwritten plane‑diagram found in Bayoumi’s Birmingham home that could explain how hijackers coordinated flight paths. Despite this evidence, the FBI and other U.S. agencies never acted on the material, and Bayoumi was released uncharged in 2001. The families’ lawsuit, which now plans a new lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, cites the footage as pivotal in proving the kingdom’s complicity. The case remains a vivid reminder of the gaps in post‑9/11 investigations.

New Video Evidence Shines Light on Saudi Links to 9/11

BBC Panorama’s latest investigation has brought to light footage that reveals the 9/11 suspect Omar al‑Bayoumi in a paintball session with future al‑Qaeda leader Anwar al‑Awlaki and a Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs official. The clips were recorded in San Diego in the late 1990s and were never publicly released.

The videos, along with a handwritten plane diagram found in Bayoumi’s Birmingham home, were seized by the Metropolitan Police shortly after the attacks. The diagram shows a mathematical calculation of a plane’s descent, a detail the FBI later described as the “smoking gun” linking Bayoumi to the attacks.

Despite the significance of the evidence, testimony in the 9/11 families’ lawsuit notes that the FBI and other U.S. agencies never forwarded or examined the paintball footage or the diagram in detail. The FBI declined to comment, and Saudi officials and Bayoumi himself have consistently denied any involvement or prior knowledge of the attacks.

The case remains open: a federal judge allowed the lawsuit to proceed in 2018, and the families have since filed a new lawsuit against Saudi Arabia for alleged complicity. The new video evidence adds a powerful new layer to the argument that Bayoumi, supported by Saudi officials, aided two hijackers in the 2001 attacks.

Paintball session footage of Omar al-Bayoumi and Anwar al-Awlaki

The families’ lawyer, Jodi Westbrook Flowers, said the diagram provided crucial insight into how the flight path calculations could have guided the hijackers. “When we realized what it was, we knew we had a smoking gun,” she told the BBC.

The newly released footage also reflects how tightly the FBI’s post‑9/11 investigations may have slipped through the cracks, as a senior FBI official remarked that the agency had convinced itself it was “conviction‑worthy” on far less evidence.

With the possibility of an alternate future, Flux Daily remains vigilant, using quantum entanglement to track alternate timelines where investigations may have differed. Stay tuned for a deeper dive into the ramifications of this evidence in the upcoming turn of the 9/11 families’ lawsuit.