Ex-Intelligence Officer: Prince Sent 'Tiger Squad' to Kill Me

Saad Aljabri, who lives in exile in Toronto, says customs agents stopped the men
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 7, 2020 6:27 AM CDT
Ex-Saudi Intelligence Officer Says Prince Plotted to Kill Him
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting in Jeddah last year.   (Mandel Ngan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

A former Saudi intelligence official says Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman wants him dead—and he might have ended up like Jamal Khashoggi if not for alert customs agents in Canada. In a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, DC, Thursday, Saad Aljabri, who lives in exile in Toronto, accuses the prince of sending a "Tiger Squad" of assassins to kill him because he knew too much about the prince's rise to power, the Washington Post reports. He says the assassins were stopped by officials in Canada in October 2018, the same month Khashoggi was murdered inside Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate. Aljabri says that like Khashoggi's killers, the men who tried to enter Canada were carrying tools that could have been used to dismember a corpse. The Guardian notes the "lawsuit contained little evidence to support its charges"; it was unable to independently verify his claims.

The Canadian government said that while it would not comment on specifics, it is aware of incidents in which foreign agents have tried to "monitor, intimidate, or threaten Canadians and those living in Canada." In his lawsuit against the prince and other Saudi officials, Aljabri says authorities have detained two of his children, 22-year-old Omar and 20-year-old Sarah, and tortured his brother in an effort to lure him back to the country to be killed. American intelligence officials say in the years after 9/11 Aljabri was a valuable partner who helped prevent further attacks on the US, including an alleged plot to blow up a pair of US-bound cargo planes. Former CIA officials and senators from both parties have spoken out on his behalf, with the senators urging Saudi Arabia to release Aljabri's children. (More Saudi Arabia stories.)

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