US President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, fearing that the move could have serious implications for America’s national interests
ADVERTISEMENT
Washington: US President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, fearing that the move could have serious implications for America’s national interests.
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) bill, passed by both the chambers of the Republican controlled Congress, would have jeopardised the long standing international principles regarding sovereignty and would have made adverse impact with US interests and nationals overseas, Obama said.
He stressed that the bill departs from longstanding standards and practice under US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and threatens to strip all foreign governments of immunity from judicial process based solely upon allegations by private litigants that a foreign government’s overseas conduct had some role to a terror group that attacked US.