Landlady to 9/11 hijackers reveals their links to alleged Saudi spy

What the report says

Holly Ratchford, a former property manager in San Diego, has spoken publicly for the first time to BBC Panorama and BBC Radio 4 about her dealings in the late 1990s with Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi man later linked in court filings to the 9/11 hijackers. Ratchford says Bayoumi lived at the Parkwood Apartments complex she managed and became friendly with her before introducing her to two other residents: Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.

The BBC reports that the two men later hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. Bayoumi has been accused by families of 9/11 victims of helping the pair settle in the United States. A federal judge in New York has said evidence creates a reasonable inference that Bayoumi and a Saudi diplomat were coordinating with the Saudi government when assisting the hijackers, allowing the civil case against Saudi Arabia to continue. Saudi Arabia and Bayoumi deny the allegations and the kingdom is appealing.

Ratchford says she believed Bayoumi to be an ordinary, friendly tenant at the time, and that her current recollections are difficult to reconcile with what later emerged in investigations. Her account, which the BBC says is also part of an upcoming Panorama documentary and a podcast, adds another witness perspective to long-running questions about support provided to the hijackers before the attacks. The wider significance is that the 9/11 civil litigation remains active more than two decades later, with families still seeking clarity over possible links to Saudi officials or agents.