Saudi officials tried to lure the daughter of a top spy to the Istanbul consulate just days before journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered there, it has been claimed.
Saad al-Jabri has been living in self-imposed exile in Toronto since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, ruthlessly took power in 2017 and became the de facto ruler of the desert kingdom.
Jabri, who once held a cabinet-level intelligence post under deposed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, has made the allegations as part of an ongoing court battle in which he claims bin Salman tried to have him killed.
In court papers filed last year, Jabri is a marked man in Riyadh because he is ‘uniquely positioned to existentially threaten defendant bin Salman’s standing with the US Government.’
He claimed MBS sent a team of hit men to North America to assassinate him, after taking his children and his brother hostage, because Jabri knew secrets about the young royal’s brutal palace coup that brought him to power,
In the latest development, according to the Times, Jabri has now claimed in an amended complaint to a court in Washington DC that MBS convened a meeting last May.
Jabri alleges that MBS directed agents to make a second attempt to kill him, this time by travelling to the US and entering Canada by land.
He goes on to claim that, in 2018, Saudi aides tried to lure his daughter, Hissah Almuzaini, to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where she was living, in order to harm her.
According to the Times, Hissah was living there at the time but did not attend the consulate where, days later, Khashoggi was killed.
Jabri has said in the lawsuit that one of the reasons MBS wants him dead is because he provided intelligence to the CIA pointing to the crown prince as responsible for the death of Khashoggi.
The murder caused a global uproar, tarnishing the crown prince’s image.
Khashoggi, a US resident, visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, to receive marriage documents. It is believed that his body was dismembered and removed.
His remains have never been recovered.
The CIA believes that Khashoggi’s murder was ordered by MBS. Saudi officials say he had no role, though in September MBS indicated some personal accountability, saying ‘it happened under my watch.’
According to the lawsuit, MBS dispatched a team of agents to the US to locate Jabri.
The agents managed to pinpoint Jabri’s location by implanting malware on his cell phone, the lawsuit alleges.
Less than two weeks after the Khashoggi killing, a ‘personal mercenary group’ known as ‘Tiger Squad’ travelled to Canada to kill Jabri, the complaint alleges.
They also had ‘forensic personnel experienced with the clean-up of crime scenes – including an instruction in the exact same criminal evidence department as the forensic specialist who dismembered Khashoggi with a bone saw.’
The lawsuit alleges that the team tried to enter Canada covertly while traveling on tourist visas.
They tried to enter the country individually while ‘seeking to avert the detection of Canadian border security by entering through separate kiosks.’
But their efforts were thwarted when Canadian border officials grew suspicious about information they had provided.
The court papers also include allegations that involve Aljabri‘s two children, who have allegedly been ‘seized’ by the Saudi government in an attempt to ‘lure [their father] back’ to the kingdom.
Aljabri is considered a close ally of the US intelligence community whose assistance saved American lives after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Two adult children and a brother of Saad Aljabri, who is said to hold key state secrets, were detained in Riyadh in March, with a source close to the family telling AFP they were victims of a ‘Saudi game of thrones.’
Aljabri, credited by Western officials for playing a pivotal role in the kingdom’s fight against Al-Qaeda, had earlier attempted to get his children to leave Saudi Arabia but authorities had placed them under a travel ban, the source said.
The source said the whereabouts of the children – Sarah and Omar, who are in their early 20s – remain unknown and the family’s repeated appeals to Saudi rulers have gone unanswered.
In May, Saad Aljabri‘s brother, Abdulrahman, was also arrested.
The Aljabri family source said the two children were caught up in the dangerous power plays and being used as ‘pawns.’
In a countersuit filed last year, MBS has previously said Jabri is trying to cover up his own crimes and has accused Jabri of misspending or stealing billions of dollars of government funds.
The filing stated: ‘The flaws in this complaint are so apparent and run so deep that it can only be regarded as an attempt to divert attention from plaintiff’s massive theft.’
Source : Daily Mail
