A Saudia Arabian dissident has alleged that crown prince Mohammed bin Salman once boasted about killing the kingdom’s former monarch. The claim was made by Saad al-Jabri on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” programme, which aired on Sunday. Though Al-Jabri could not provide any evidence on the news programme, it should be noted that the claim is among the several unproven allegations he has made against the Saudi crown prince. Later speaking to CBS News, Saudi authorities described him as “a discredited former government official”.
Al-Jabri, who resides in Canada now, claimed that in a 2014 meeting with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was head of intelligence as interior minister at the time, MBS (as the crown prince is popularly known) boasted that he could kill King Abdullah. Prince Mohammed held no senior role in government at that time but was serving as gatekeeper to the royal court of his father, and was still the heir to the throne.
“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 and the issue was handled.
He made a further claim that a video recording of that meeting still exists.
King Salman ascended to the throne in January 2015 after his half-brother, King Abdullah, died of a lung infection at a hospital. It was later declared that the death was due to natural causes.
Al-Jabri has in the past accused MBS of plotting to kill him weeks after the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. An assessment by the US officials claimed that Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi was killed in an operation approved by the Saudi crown prince inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkey in October 2018.
Al-Jabri described Prince Mohammed as “a psychopath, killer.”
