A handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace shows Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman virtually attending the G20 of World Leaders Summit from the capital Riyadh
It’ has been less than five years since Mohammed bin Salman came to prominence as the Crown Prince and the de facto leader of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Yet over this rather short period of time, he has damaged his reputation and has become notorious as a young prince who is seeking to bring the whole kingdom under the yoke of his servitude while shocking the world with his callous disregard for human life.
Arresting other princes, influential people, and rights activists, waging a bloody war on the poor Yemeni civilians and bringing about a host of other plights such as famine and diseases for them, killing his opponents exemplified in the case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi are all just a few instances that show bin Salman is prepared to commit any crime to make sure that he will have easy accession to the throne.
Yet, there are some cases that keep the Saudi prince up at night; like the case of Saad al-Jabri, a former top Saudi intelligence officer, now living in exile in Canada.
After his interview with “60 Minutes” on CBS NEWS, al-Jabri once again hit the headlines. The aim was to pressure bin Salman into releasing his son Omar and daughter Sarah, reportedly detained in an attempt to force him back to the kingdom.
“I have to speak out. I am appealing to the American people and to the American administration to help me to release those children and to restore their life.”
In the interview, the former spymaster sent threatening signals to Riyadh that he could be a whistleblower if push comes to shove.
Al-Jabri said bin Salman boasted in 2014 that he could kill King Abdullah using a “poisoned ring” he had acquired from Russia.
In less than a year, King Abdullah died and his half-brother Salman was crowned king.
Al-Jabri had already accused bin Salman of an attempt on his life because he knows “damaging secrets” about how the prince was catapulted to power.
Al-Jabri asserts the Saudi Crown Prince has no empathy and considers him to be a person who “poses a threat to his people, to the Americans and to the planet.”
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Essentially, Mohammed bin Salman came to power under his father as part of a coup. It was a coup that he had initiated. And you’ll remember that some of the most important members of the royal family were arrested and detained at the, whatever it was, the Four Seasons hotel, I think it was.
Many of them were stripped of billions of dollars of wealth. They were accused of crimes including corruption. Some died mysteriously in plane crashes; one was shot down on the border with Yemen.
I think these are the secrets; the secrets are that this young man didn’t think twice about murdering members of his own family to take power.
John Kiriakou, Former CIA Analyst
In one of his key lawsuits filed in August 2019 against bin Salman, the former intelligence officer said the prince sent the hit team that did away with Khashoggi to Canada to kill him but were intercepted and deported at Ottawa’s international airport.
We have reported that Khashoggi was screaming in agony as they were chopping him up while he was still alive. And why? Because he supported human rights and he, maybe, could be seen as an opponent of Mohammed bin Salman.
He had never done anything. He had never fomented a coup attempt. He didn’t write columns in the Washington Post in opposition to the Crown Prince. He just, you know, could have become an opposition figure at some point in the future.
And that was enough for Mohammed bin Salman to order his execution.
John Kiriakou, Former CIA Analyst
On the other hand, the Saudi Embassy in Washington has made the statement that “Al-Jabri is a discredited former government official with a long history of fabricating and creating distractions to hide the financial crimes he committed.”
Accusations of this kind are nothing new as over the past years many Saudi officials have been arrested on charges of financial corruption; critics say they are mostly trumped-up charges for political purposes.
