Former intelligence officer calls Saudi crown prince a “psychopath without empathy”

Wow cool – A former senior Saudi intelligence officer claims Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a “psychopath without empathy.” The crown prince is said to have even boasted of being able to kill King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, then still in power, and to replace him with his own father.

This was transmitted by a former officer named Saad Aljabri to the American TV station, SCS. Aljabri himself fled Saudi Arabia in May 2017 and lived in exile in Canada. He is a close advisor to Mohammed bin Nayef, a former Saudi crown prince and interior minister who is seen as a potential political rival to Prince Mohammed.

Aljabri admitted that in 2018 he was warned by a colleague that a team of Saudi assassins was traveling to Canada to kill him. The warning came after reporters Jamal Khashoggi killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

To the “60 Minutes” team SCS, Aljabri claimed to have been warned “not to approach Saudi missions in Canada. Not to go to the consulate. Not to go to the embassy.” When Aljabri asked his partner why he had warned him, the partner replied, “They dismembered the man, they killed him. You are at the top of the list.

Some details of the alleged assassination plot, detailed in litigation in the United States and Canada, have indeed already been reported. But this interview with the “60 Minutes” team is the first time that Aljabri has spoken publicly about his separation from Prince Mohammed.

In addition, Aljabri also briefly touched on the plight of his two youngest children, Sarah and Omar, who were arrested and jailed in Saudi Arabia. This is seen as one of the efforts to force Aljabri to return to Saudi Arabia.

“I must speak up. I call on the American people and the American government to help me free these children and restore their lives,” Aljabri said.

The Saudi government itself has not responded to Aljabri’s accusations. But in a statement, the Saudi government said Aljabri was known to fabricate a story to create unrest.

“Saad Aljabri is a discredited former public servant with a long history of fabricating and creating distractions to cover up the financial crimes he has committed,” the Saudi government said in a statement. The Guardian.

(week / Bert)