Washington Post: MBS' Troubled Campaign Against Former Spy Master Hits a Dead-End
MBS is dealing with a slew of legal and diplomatic setbacks that threaten to ruin his case against Aljabri, leaving him vulnerable to the counterclaim.
According to an opinion piece in The Washington Post (WP), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has been entangled in numerous lawsuits with one of the kingdom's previous intelligence officers, entangling the U.S. courts and U.S intelligence officials as arbitrators.
The report on the WP continues to say that Saad Aljabri was accused of billions in fraud. Meanwhile, Aljabri claimed that MBS organized the kidnapping of his children and attempted to arrest or murder him.
The Saudi prince is left vulnerable and disadvantaged while he faces a series of legal and political setbacks that jeopardize his allegations against Aljabri.
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton decided last week that Aljabri "cannot adequately defend" himself against the fraud accusation without divulging "protected information" concerning US-Saudi espionage operations in which he was involved.
MBS fired Aljabri in 2015
Aljabri was previously employed with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted as crown prince in 2017 and is currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. This could be part of the reason MBS has targeted Aljabri, as he and bin Nayef are political enemies.
MBS fired Aljabri in 2015 and has been pursuing him ever since. In 2017 he requested to have him arrested, a request that Interpol rejected. He banned him from travel in 2017 and arrested and tortured his son-in-law as well as imprisoned 2 of his children, as reported by the Washington Post.
According to opinion article author David Ignatius, the kidnap-or-kill plot stems from MBS's failure to get US backing for claiming sovereign immunity from Aljabri's suit.
Details of Aljabri's lawsuit
In the details of Aljabri's lawsuit, he accuses MBS agents of visiting him in Canada with the intent of kidnapping or murdering him. The event occurred two weeks after a Saudi hit team murdered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, an operation the CIA alleges was authorized by MBS.
The Embassy of Saudi has sought sovereign immunity for MBS in regards to the case from the State Department.
MBS's immunity status
According to The Post's examination of the immunity request, MBS deserves "status-based immunity," as well as "conduct-based immunity" since whatever activities he may have taken entailed "exercise of the governmental powers of Saudi Arabia."
According to the Saudi Embassy, charges that MBS “directed an attempted extrajudicial killing do not overcome the Crown Prince’s immunity,” which “protects the Crown Prince regardless of the seriousness of the allegations made.”
The first request for immunity from the Trump administration was not granted, and neither was the pending request when Biden took office.
MBS's attorneys submitted identical immunity claims to U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly in a move to dismiss Aljabri's case last December.
The court has still not acted, leaving MBS potentially susceptible to testify under oath.
Biden has refused to meet with MBS, making his setback diplomatic, not legal. MBS previously received tremendous backing from the previous President Donald Trump, causing him some irritation.
A way out for MBS?
Ignatius concludes by considering that a way out for MBS would be for Aljabri to offer a financial settlement and drop his case in Washington, in exchange for the freedom of his children and son-in-law.
He adds that such an agreement would help alleviate the intelligence community's concern about the exposure of sensitive material, although MBS has not expressed any interest in a settlement so far.