Focus: The Saudi Connection

The kingdom's envoy in Britain is at the centre of claims that it is the power behind al-Qa'ida. Paul Lashmar reports

After last week's bombs in Casablanca and Saudi Arabia, which killed more than 70 people, evidence is mounting that Saudi Arabia is the operational centre for al-Qa'ida. There were some telling moments during the week. When suicide bombers devastated residential compounds in Riyadh on Monday, the Saudi ambassador in London described them as "evil". He should know. Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud was the head of his nation's intelligence agency for 25 years, and watched over the rise of the deadly network run by his fellow countryman Osama bin Laden. In fact, Prince Turki is said to have met the al-Qa'ida leader a number of times.

Four years ago Prince Turki paid the leader of al-Qa'ida a massive bribe to prevent attacks in Saudi Arabia, according to a lawsuit filed by the relatives of people who died in the strike on the twin towers in New York.

Prince Turki is the 57-year-old brother of King Fahd and one of the "Sudeiri Seven" brothers in the vast royal household who effectively control Saudi Arabia. Many observers believe the profligacy and corruption of their dynasty helped to spark a resurgence in the puritanical Wahhabi form of Islam – strangely, the very strand the royal family professes to.

Experts are concluding that Saudi is the intellectual and fundamentalist power centre of al-Qa'ida. It is from Saudi that its cells are assigned their deadly tasks, as seen in Casablanca on Friday night.

A recent briefing at the Pentagon described Saudi Arabia as the "kernel of evil". The Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington think-tank, says Saudis "constitute a disproportionate percentage of al-Qa'ida's membership". Four out of every five hits on a secret al-Qa'ida website were shown to come from within Saudi, and 15 of the 19 hijackers on 11 September 2001 were from the country.

The leader of last week's suicide bombers in Saudi is believed to have been Khaled Jehani, 29, who fought in Bosnia and Chechnya and was based at al-Qa'ida camps in Afghanistan. He took part in the battle for the Tora Bora mountains in December 2001, in which Bin Laden may or may not have been killed. Jehani became leader of the Saudi cell last November after the capture of another Saudi, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, in connection with the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

A Saudi citizen, Khaled al-Fawwaz, is in Belmarsh prison while the United States tries to extradite him for alleged involvement in attacks on US embassies in 1998. Fawwaz, who insists he is innocent, has resisted extradition for four years, at a cost to British taxpayers of £1m.

The UN Security Council believes Saudi Arabia has transferred $500m to al-Qa'ida over the past decade. Citizens and Saudi-based charities helped to fund Islamic fighters in Afghanistan and militant Islamic schools in Pakistan, according to a study by the Council on Foreign Relations, by two former members of the US National Security Council. "It is worth stating clearly and unambiguously what official US spokespersons have not," says the report. "For years, individuals and charities based in Saudi Arabia have been the most important source of funds for al-Qa'ida; and for years, Saudi officials have turned a blind eye to this."

In the US the families of 500 World Trade Centre victims are suing for $3bn damages from prominent Saudi individuals, including Prince Turki, and Saudi businesses and charities, for supporting al-Qa'ida. Their lawyers say the princes of the Saud family feared Bin Laden's men, who had recently relocated to Afghanistan from Sudan, would attempt to destabilise the kingdom because of their opposition to the presence of US troops. They therefore decided to come to an accommodation with the terrorist leader.

The court documents say Saudi princes and businesses agreed in 1996 to give money to Bin Laden's organisation. A meeting in Afghanistan in July 1998 led to a deal between Saudi Arabia and the Taliban. Those present included Prince Turki, Taliban leaders, senior officers from Pakistan's ISI secret service and Bin Laden, according to the lawsuit. The agreement stated Bin Laden would not use his forces to subvert the Saudi government. In return, the Saudis agreed to ensure that requests for the extradition of al-Qa'ida members and demands to close Afghan training camps were not fulfilled.

"Prince Turki also promised to provide oil and generous financial assistance to both the Taliban and to Pakistan. After the meeting, 400 new pick-up trucks arrived in Kandahar for the Taliban," claim the legal papers, detailing donations totalling "several hundred millions" of dollars.

The application cites Mullah Kakshar, a senior Taliban official who defected and provided a sworn statement regarding the transfer of funds from wealthy Saudis directly to al-Qa'ida and Bin Laden. He says Prince Turki facilitated these payments. The prince is also linked in the documents to one of al-Qa'ida's top money-launderers, Mohammed Zouaydi, who lived in Saudi Arabia from 1996 to 2001 and is now in jail in Spain.

The Saudi royals have repeatedly denied assisting al-Qa'ida. Prince Turki refuses to discuss the lawsuit allegations but has dismissed them in private as "nonsense". At a press conference after the Riyadh bombing he promised: "This awful incident will only strengthen our long-standing resolve to eradicate terrorist activity and to combat this evil wherever we find it. To this end Saudi Arabia will work with its international friends and allies, including the US and Britain."

King Fahd

Alleged corruption is said to have provoked resurgence of the Wahhabi form of Islam followed by Bin Laden

Khaled al-Fawwaz

Resisting deportation to the US from cell in Belmarsh prison. Denies involvement in attacks on American embassies in 1998

Mullah Kakshar

Senior official defected from the Taliban and gave evidence that funds had been moved from wealthy Saudis to al-Qa'ida

Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud

Former head of the secret service said to have bribed Osama bin Laden not to attack targets in Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Zouaydi

Former accountant to branch of Saudi royal family who allegedly laundered money for al-Qa'ida

Osama bin Laden

Agreed not to act against Saudis in return for money and guarantees that al-Qa'ida members would not be extradited