NEW YORK — Lawyers representing 9/11 families are asking a federal judge to find Iran culpable in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying new evidence shows Iranian officials had advanced word of the attacks and helped train the hijackers.
The lawyers filed papers Thursday in US District Court in Manhattan saying there is “clear and convincing’’ evidence to conclude default judgment damages should be paid to their plaintiffs — families and personal representatives of some of those killed in the attacks.
Supporting their arguments, the lawyers cited the testimony of three defectors from Iran’s intelligence service, saying they worked in positions that gave them access to sensitive information regarding Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism. They said the testimony, part of 28 hours of testimony by four witnesses, supports a claim that Iranian officials had advanced word of the attacks and that Iran helped train those who carried it out.
Iran has not responded to the lawsuit.
The lawyers said Iran and “its proxy terrorist organization,’’ the Lebanese group Hezbollah, entered into a terrorist alliance with Al Qaeda in the early 1990s that continued throughout the preparations for the 2001 attacks.
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