Saudi authorities arrest another relative of dissident ex-intelligence official Saad Al-Jabri

Saad Al-Jabri’s son said in a tweet on Wednesday that his brother-in-law, Salem al-Muzaini, had disappeared this week.

2 min read

27 August, 2020

Saad al-Jabri is thought to hold compromising information on Saudi Arabia's crown prince [Getty]

Saudi authorities have reportedly arrested another relative of self-exiled ex-intelligence officer Saad Al-Jabri, who is accused by Riyadh for embezzeling billions of dollars in state funds but which others say is politically-motivated.

Al-Jabri, a former aide of former Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, is thought to hold compromising intelligence on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de-facto ruler.

On Wednesday, Al-Jabri's son said in a tweet that his brother-in-law, Salem al-Muzaini, had disappeared on Monday.

Khalid Al-Jabri said said the "arrest is an obvious attempt to intimidate and blackmail my father, Dr. Saad Aljabri".

"My father filed a lawsuit this month against MBS and two dozen others in US District Court in response to their thwarted efforts to assassinate my father and terrorise my family. Salem’s arrest is a blatant attempt by MBS to interfere with the US judicial process," the statement continued, referring to legal action currently underway against the Saudi heir in the US.

Twitter Post

Khalid also alleged that Salem had been renditioned in 2017 from the UAE to Saudi Arabia, but was released in 2018 after Riyadh seized his savings and barred him from travel.

In recent months, MbS has arrested two of Al-Jabri's children, 21-year old Omar and 20-year old Sarah, to try to force his return to the kingdom from exile in Canada.

Both are still being held incommunicado detention according to recent comments made by Al-Jabri.

Al-Jabri accuses Prince Mohammed of having tried to have him assassinated in 2018.

Earlier this month, the former official was placed under heightened security after a new threat on his life.

The Globe and Mail said Canadian security services had been informed of a new attempted attack on Saad Al-Jabri, who lives at an undisclosed location in the Toronto region.

The newspaper said its source - someone "with knowledge of the situation" - would provide no further details on the more recent threat by Saudi agents.

In a lawsuit filed on earlier this month with a court in Washington, Al-Jabri accused Prince Mohammed of having sent a hit squad to Canada to kill and dismember him in 2018, the same fate that two weeks earlier befell dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

Al-Jabri's former employer, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, is currently in custody and has been denied visits from a doctor during detention, lawyers representing the former crown prince told The Financial Times.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay connected