MP Ahmed al-Sherif, a member of the Salafi-oriented Nour Party, has attacked the new JASTA law, which was passed in the United States last week, giving US citizens the right to file legal claims against foreign governments for involvement in terrorist attacks on US soil.
Sherif, who is also a member of the Arab Affairs Committee in Egypt's parliament, said that it is the United States that should be held accountable for its various acts of terrorism and warfare, from nuclear strikes on Japan to conflicts in the modern-day Middle East.
The new law was passed mainly to allow claims by familes of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United Sates.
Saudi Arabia is likely to be the first target for legal action, since most of the alleged hijackers involved in the 9/11 attacks were Saudi nationals, and many claim they acted with the assistance of Saudi intelligence officers.
"The JASTA law passed by the US Congress and the Senate against states sponsoring terrorism, and the countries whose nationals participated in the attack against the World Trade Center and others, allows American citizens to file lawsuits against Saudi Arabia for compensation," Sherif said in a statement.
"Who is going to hold this unjust country accountable for the killings, arson, war and terrorism in a number of countries, including Japan, where two nuclear bombs were dropped, the crimes committed during the Vietnam, Somalia, and Iraq wars, Libya strikes, and the Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons?"
Sherif concluded by saying that the US is the main country sponsoring terrorism around the world, describing it as a "war criminal and killer of children."
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
