Iran Press/Middle East: A former Saudi minister and top intelligence official living in exile in Canada alleged on Thursday that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent an assassination squad to kill him in 2018 — the same team that murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a consulate in Turkey only two weeks earlier.
Saad al Jabri filed a lawsuit in a Washington, DC court against bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia often known as MBS, and 24 others, accusing the prince of flying a "hit squad" along with crime-scene clean-up specialists to Canada.
The alleged attempted hit was foiled when Canadian border police denied the team entry after discovering they had lied about knowing one another. They subsequently found two bags of forensic tools, according to a 107-page court filing.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Bill Blair has so far declined to comment directly on the allegations and Saudi authorities have not issued any statements.
Al Jabri's lawyers also allege that MBS sent him explicit death threats via WhatsApp, had obtained a religious decree sanctioning his killing, and had tried to lure him back to the Middle Eastern kingdom, and then coerce him by detaining the only two of his eight children that remain in Saudi Arabia.
Messages sent by MBS threatened to deploy "all available means to eliminate Saad," according to the suit.
The Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder in November 2018, which was carried out on the direct orders of Mohammad bin Salman, sparked widespread global pressure against the Saudi government and the Crown Prince.
Backed by the US, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied responsibility for Khashoggi's murder.
Riyadh claims that the Saudi royal family had no prior knowledge about any murder plot.
Khashoggi's killing has put mounting pressure on Riyadh and Mohammad Bin Salman and undermined them.
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