Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Chairman of Board of Directors of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies has won his case against the French channel (France 3), which accused the Prince in a documentary program aired two years ago that he had an advance knowledge of planning for September 11th terrorist operation in 2001. In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Prince Turki said, "This ruling came as a confirmation of the firm positions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its war against terrorism in all its forms, as well as its keenness on achievement of security and peace in the world." He added, "This verdict is a proof of the integrity of the French judiciary which refuted claims that tried to undermine the reputation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This ruling and other previous verdicts enhance Saudi strong and firm position. " On Wednesday, the French appeals court rejected an appeal filed by the channel on a previous convicting verdict issued by the Court of First Instance. The appeals court also approved the verdict, increased the financial fine that should be paid by the Channel to the Prince as a compensation, and ordered the Channel to broadcast a frank apology for the Prince in which the Channel denies all allegations against him at the beginning of its main news bulletin within one week of the issuance of the ruling. Earlier, Prince Turki Al-Faisal won a case against (France 3) and the paper which prepared the program. It alleged that the Prince had an advance knowledge of Al-Qaeda plans as a Chief of Saudi intelligence before the occurrence of the events in September 11th. This claim was rejected by the Court of First Instance and its ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeals. The two courts convicted the main French channel of deliberately distorting the image of Prince Turki Al-Faisal for ignoring the prince's sayings in its report, though the prince gave a press statement to the French newspaper. The ruling pointed out that the report deliberately conducted a montage of the prince's statement and deliberately ignored official reports denying allegations reiterated by several hostile parties against Saudi Arabia and its senior officials of involvement in the events of September 11th, namely the most important official report issued by U.S. Independent Committee assigned to search for the causes of the events of September 11th. This report was mentioned by the Court of Appeal. Earlier, Prince Turki Al-Faisal and other Saudi officials have won cases acquitting them of similar allegations in the United States and France.
