NY judge orders al-Qaeda, Taliban and Iran to pay $6 billion for aiding 9/11 attacks

Wife of a pilot whose plane was used is happy about ruling, despite no hope of collecting money

31 July 2012, 11:23 pm Edit

A fire engine at Manhattan's collapsed World Trade Center following the terror attack on September 11, 2001. (photo credit: CC BY-SA 3.0, by Chief Photographer's Mate Eric J. TIlford/US Navy, Wikimedia Commons)

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. judge has ordered al-Qaida, the Taliban and Iran to pay $6 billion to relatives of Sept. 11 victims for aiding in the 2001 terror attacks in New York.

The ruling is largely symbolic since it would be nearly impossible to collect any damages.

But plaintiff Ellen Saracini tells the Daily News that she is happy about Monday’s ruling by Manhattan Federal Magistrate Judge Frank Maas. Her husband, Victor, was the captain of one of the two planes that struck the World Trade Center.

Last year, Judge George Daniels signed a default judgment on the lawsuit brought by family members of 47 victims. He found al-Qaida, the Taliban and Iran liable and asked the magistrate to determine damages.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied any Iranian connection in the attacks.