Saudi crown prince a ‘psychopath’, says exiled intelligence officer

A former senior Saudi intelligence officer has claimed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a “psychopath with no empathy” who once boasted that he could kill the kingdom’s ruler at the time, King Abdullah, and replace him with his own father.

In an interview on US television, Saad Aljabri, who fled Saudi Arabia in May 2017 and is living in exile in Canada, also said he had been warned by an associate in 2018, after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, that a Saudi hit team was heading to Canada to assassinate him.

Aljabri told 60 Minutes on CBS he was warned “don’t be in a proximity of any Saudi mission in Canada. Don’t go to the consulate. Don’t go to the embassy.” When he asked why he said he was told “they dismembered the guy, they kill him. You are on the top of the list.”

Some details of the alleged assassination plot, which were detailed in litigation in the US and Canada, have already been reported. But the 60 Minutes interview represents the first time Aljabri has publicly spoken about his break with Prince Mohammed.

He also spoke of the plight of his two youngest children, Sarah and Omar, who were arrested and are in prison in Saudi Arabia in what is widely seen as an attempt to force their father back to 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,” he said.

The Saudi government did not address Aljabri’s allegations but said in a statement that “Saad Aljabri is a discredited former government official with a long history of fabricating and creating distractions to hide the financial crimes he committed”.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Aljabri was a close adviser to Mohammed bin Nayef, a former crown prince and interior minister who is being held in Saudi Arabia and has been seen as a potential political rival to Prince Mohammed. “I expect to be killed one day because this guy will not rest off until he see me dead,” Aljabri said.

Aljabri has strong support in the US, where former intelligence officials have credited their Saudi counterpart for helping to save American and Saudi lives following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US.

On 60 Minutes, former acting CIA director Mike Morell said Aljabri was “honourable”. Intelligence relayed to the US by Aljabri – Morell said – had led to the interception of bombs that had been planted by al-Qaeda in 2010 in two desktop printers that were being flown as cargo on two planes.

Morell said there were also other examples of Aljabri saving the lives of Americans, but that they were still classified.

Saudi Arabia has previously denied that there was an attempt on Aljabri’s life in Canada. The kingdom has also denied that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist, was ordered by Prince Mohammed. But a declassified US intelligence assessment – released earlier this year – concluded that the murder was approved by the crown prince.

© Provided by The Guardian Saad Aljabri Photograph: Aljabri family/AFP/Getty Images