INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE

Former Saudi Intelligence Official Alleges Mohammed bin Salman Ordered His Assassination

Saad Aljabri accused bin Salman of sending the elite assassins known as the Tiger Squad to kill him in Toronto.

A former top Saudi Arabian intelligence official alleges the most powerful man in his homeland ordered his death in 2018 after he sought exile. Saad Aljabri filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., accusing Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of sending an elite cadre of assassins known as the Tiger Squad to kill him in Toronto in 2018. The alleged murder attempt came just days after the extrajudicial killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but border control agents in Canada foiled the would-be killers. Aljabri further alleged that the detention of two of his children in Saudi Arabia earlier this year constitutes a use of “human bait” by the kingdom. Aljabri has close ties to the U.S. intelligence community, a factor his lawyer says makes him a more likely target: “That combination of deep knowledge and enduring trust by top U.S. officials is why there is virtually no one defendant bin Salman wants dead more than Dr. Saad.”