A family member of one of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks unleashed searing criticism of Saudi Arabia live on US television during the reading of victims' names at the 9/11 Memorial Friday.
The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by mostly Saudi hijackers orchestrated by mastermind Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who founded Al-Qaeda. Washington maintains strong military and diplomatic ties with the kingdom.
Tom Strada's widow Terry, the national chair of 9/11 Families United, said "you are missed more with each year that passes, but how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?"
"Yes, we finally made it into a court and have proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe, and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones," she said in the remarks carried on live broadcasts.
The reading of names is a somber, annual ceremony at Ground Zero in New York and is usually entirely apolitical, making Strada's comments a jarring exception.
