A former senior Saudi Arabia security official claimed in an interview that the kingdom’s crown prince once spoke of killing a sitting Saudi monarch before his own father was crowned king.
Saad al-Jabri claimed the crown prince will not rest until he sees the ex-official “dead” because of what he knows. The 62-year-old described the crown prince as “a psychopath, killer.”
In this summer 2021 photo provided by CBS News, former senior Saudi security official Saad al-Jabri sits for an interview with journalist Scott Pelley in Washington during an interview for “60 Minutes.” (CBS News/60 Minutes via AP)
Saad al-Jabri helped oversee joint counterterrorism efforts with the United States during his tenure, providing him a unique perspective on global politics and affairs in the Middle East. He provided no evidence for his claim, but he offered specific details.
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Al-Jabri told “60 Minutes” that Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2014 boasted he could kill King Abdullah. He claimed that he kept a recorded video that revealed even more royal secrets, which would be released if he was killed.
In this summer 2021 photo provided by CBS News, former senior Saudi security official Saad al-Jabri, right, walks with journalist Scott Pelley in Washington during an interview for “60 Minutes.” (CBS News/60 Minutes via AP)
“He told him, ‘I want to assassinate King Abdullah. I get a poison ring from Russia. It’s enough for me just to shake hand(s) with him and he will be done,'” Al-Jabri said, claiming that Saudi intelligence took the threat seriously.
The crown prince held no senior role at the time, and his father was heir to the throne. The issue was handled within the royal family, al-Jabri said.
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The allegations represent the latest effort to pressure the crown prince as global outcry grows following news that aides who worked for him had killed Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkey in October 2018.
The crown prince denied any knowledge of the operation, which officials claimed was an effort to force Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia that went awry, but U.S. intelligence says otherwise.
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CBS News reported that the Saudi government told them al-Jabri is “a discredited former government official with a long history of fabricating and creating distractions to hide the financial crimes he committed.”
Al-Jabri remains in exile in Canada, but the Saudi government has issued extradition requests and Interpol notices for him, alleging corruption charges. The government accused al-Jabri of embezzling some $500 billion from a counterterrorism budget, but al-Jabri denied the allegations, claiming that the money came from the “generosity” of the kings he served.
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The Saudi government arrested al-Jabri’s children – Omar al-Jabri, 23, and Sarah al-Jabri, 21 – in March 2020. Al-Jabri has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against the crown prince, alleging a plot to trap and kill him in the U.S. and Canada.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
