Former Saudi intelligence official says crown prince plotted to kill him
A former top intelligence official in Saudi Arabia's
government says the kingdom's ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, plotted to kill him
and has taken his children hostage. Saad Aljabri makes these and other
accusations about the crown prince in his first interview.
Aljabri fled Saudi Arabia in 2017 and currently lives in Canada.
He says the Saudi crown prince sent a hit squad to Canada days after Washington
Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul,
Turkey, in October 2018. The U.S. intelligence community has said that Mohammed
bin Salman approved the operation against Khashoggi.
Two of Aljabri's children, Sarah and Omar, have been
prevented from leaving Saudi Arabia since the day Prince Mohammed became crown
prince in 2017. They are now in Saudi prisons, as is Aljabri's son-in-law. All
are accused of financial crimes.
Aljabri filed suit against the Saudi crown prince in the
United States. A Saudi company has sued Aljabri in Canada claiming he and his
former boss, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, stole billions from the Saudi company.
Bin Nayef was ousted as crown prince in 2017 and his cousin, Mohammed bin
Salman replaced him.
The Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Washington
issued a statement, which reads in part, "Saad Aljabri is a discredited
former government official with a long history of fabricating and creating
distractions to hide the financial crimes he committed, which amount to
billions of dollars, to furnish a lavish life-style for himself and his
family.
He has not denied his crimes; in fact he implies that
stealing was acceptable at the time. But it wasn't acceptable nor legal then,
and it isn't now."
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