Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a 'psychopath' and a 'killer', says former spy
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is a “psychopath” who once plotted to kill the Gulf state’s King with a poisoned ring, a former top spy has claimed in an explosive TV interview.
Saad al-Jabri, who is currently living in exile in Canada, also said he fears for his own life as he believes that Mohammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, wishes to assassinate him.
Speaking to CBS' 60 Minutes programme, Mr Jabri claimed that during a 2014 meeting with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, another Saudi royal, the Crown Prince threatened to murder King Abdullah.
"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," Mr Jabri claimed.
Before fleeing the country, Mr Jabri had served as an aide to Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted as heir to the throne in 2017 by the Crown Prince.
Saudi Arabia has flatly denied the claims, which it dismissed as fabrications from a "discredited former government official" in a statement to 60 Minutes.
In the same interview, Mr Jabri issued an unprecedented public appeal to the Biden administration to help secure the release of his children, who have been jailed in Saudi Arabia.
"I have to speak out. I am appealing to the American people and to the American administration to help me to release those children and to restore their life," an emotional Mr Jabri said.
Mr Jabri said he had recorded a video revealing more information about the allegations and threatened to release it to the public.
He added that he expected "to be killed one day because this guy will not rest off until he sees me dead," referring to the Crown Prince.
In August 2019, Mr Jabri filed a 107-page lawsuit in the United States alleging that the Crown Prince "dispatched a "hit squad" to kill him in October 2018 and that Canadian authorities foiled the attempt. Saudi Arabia has also rejected those allegations.
Last year, a Saudi court jailed two of Mr Jabri's adult children for money laundering and conspiracy to escape the kingdom unlawfully, charges they deny.
In his first interview since leaving the kingdom, Mr Jabri also claimed the Crown Prince has "no empathy," and that the 36-year-old leader is a threat to the people of Saudi Arabia, Americans and the rest of the world.
Crown Prince Mohammed - who chairs the investment fund that controversially took a controlling stake in Newcastle United this month - is already mired in a scandal over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was killed in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate.
The CIA has publicly accused the Crown Prince of ordering the murder, though he vehemently denies this.
