Saudi embassy in US called Saad Aljabri a "discredited former government official". (File)
A former Saudi intelligence chief described Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) as a “psychopath” in a CBS Newsinterview aired just a few days before United States President Joe Biden is due to visit the kingdom.
Saad Aljabri, who was once the number two official in Saudi intelligence, warned that MBS' immense wealth makes him a threat to the US and other countries around the globe. He stated that the Crown Prince was a “killer” with “infinite resources”. He went on to add that MBS runs a vicious gang of mercenaries called the “Tiger Squad” that he uses to carry out kidnappings and killings.
“I am here to sound the alarm about a psychopath, killer, in the Middle East with infinite resources, who poses threat to his people, to the Americans and to the planet,” Mr Aljabri told CBS News in the interview that aired on Sunday.
“A psychopath with no empathy, doesn't feel emotion, never learned from his experience. And we have witnessed atrocities and crimes committed by this killer,” he elaborated.
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Mr Aljabri was a long-time advisor to Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted as the Saudi Crown Prince in June 2017 and replaced with MBS. Mr Aljabri, fearing for his life, then left the country and fled to Canada, where he now lives in exile.
As per the outlet, in 2020, Mr Aljabri sued the Saudi Crown Prince in a Washington DC court, alleging that MBS sent a hit squad to kill him in Toronto in 2018 - two weeks after the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.
Speaking to CBS, the former spymaster said that he expected to be killed by MBS one day because he has access to sensitive information about the government and the royal family. “This guy will not rest until he sees me dead,” Mr Aljabri said.
Responding to the interview, the Saudi embassy in the United States called Mr Aljabri a “discredited former government official with a long history of fabricating and creating distractions to hide the financial crimes he committed”. The embassy also added that the former Saudi intelligence chief “implies that stealing was acceptable at the time. But it wasn't acceptable not legal then, and it isn't now”.
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Meanwhile, the interview comes just days before US President Joe Biden is due to visit the kingdom. Mr Biden is expected to meet with the Crown prince in order to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues.
The US President has also defended his meeting with the MBS, who US intelligence previously said was responsible for ordering Mr Khashoggi's murder. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Mr Biden said that as President, it is his job to keep the country strong and secure. “We have to counter Russia's aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to outcompete China, and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world,” he added.