"These allegations were outrageous," said Al-Faisal, following the court decision in his favor. "On behalf of my government, I spent a number of years trying to track down Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice at a time when other governments were less convinced of the threat he posed.

"Al-Qaida and all terrorist groups go against everything I believe in and hold most sacred. They are an evil cult, which we must all, as an international community, fight to destroy. The killing of innocent life goes totally against Islamic beliefs."

In its October 9-15, 2003 issue, Paris Match published an article that included an interview with Laurent Murawiec and extracts from his book "La Guerre D'Apres."

The article gave Murawiec's account of the dangers Saudi Arabia posed for the United States and specifically cited Al-Faisal as having set up al-Qaida as his own "military organization."

The article further placed direct responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks on Al-Faisal.

In response to Murawiec's allegations in the October 2003 Paris Match article, Al-Faisal denied all links to the 9/11 attacks and al-Qaida.

In a statement read in open court on Dec. 6, 2004, Hachette Filipacchi Associes, publishers of Paris Match, accepted "Prince Turki's assurances that there is no truth in the allegations" and that "Mr. Murawiec's views have been rejected at the highest level in the United States government, as well as by the 9/11 Commission."

"Substantial" damages were awarded to Al-Faisal and are to be paid by the publishers of the magazine.

The damages are to be donated for relief work in Afghanistan. The publishers will also pay for the prince's legal costs. The magazine has released a public apology and has accepted that the allegations put forth in the article were incorrect and without foundation.

Prince Turki Al-Faisal was the head of Saudi Arabia's External Intelligence Service from 1977 until his retirement from that position in August 2001.

In that capacity during the 1980s, he had contact with Osama bin Laden, who had gone to Afghanistan to support the Afghan mujahideen in their resistance to Soviet occupation of their country.

After the Soviet withdrawal, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia, but after the first Gulf War he adopted a confrontational stance against the kingdom and the United States. He was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994.

Editor's note: