Qatar minister seeks to vacate Sept. 11 judgment against him

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NEW YORK - A member of the ruling family of Qatar, accused of once harboring Al Qaeda members, has asked a federal judge to vacate a default judgment entered against him in a Sept. 11 lawsuit. His lawyers say he has no connection to the 2001 attacks.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalid Al Thani, Qatar’s interior minister, made the request in papers last filed Friday in US District Court in Manhattan.

In a declaration filed with US District Judge Richard C. Casey, Al Thani said he had “never appeared on any official list of persons under investigation for terrorist activities in connection with such matters outside of this case.”

Lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks say FBI officials have speculated that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Al Qaeda’s former No. 3 man, may have been tipped off by Al Thani before agents were granted permission to enter Qatar to try to arrest him in 1996.