SAUDI ASSASSINS TRIED TO ENTER CANADA, KILL DISSIDENT: LAWSUIT Ex-spymaster exiled in Canada targeted by ‘ Tiger Squad’ in 2018, U.S. court filing alleges
• A Saudi dissident and former spymaster, exiled in Canada, was hunted by a squad of assassins from his homeland, less than two weeks after a Saudi team butchered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, says a lawsuit filed in the United States.
The lawsuit says the “Tiger Squad” or “Firqat el- Nemr” — part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s personal mercenary group — tried to enter Canada on tourist visas in October 2018 to kill Saad Aljabri, after attempts to lure him home by other means failed.
“Thus, after luring, hunting, and hacking Dr. Saad, Defendant bin Salman went for the kill,” the lawsuit says.
The assassins, though, failed to get into Canada. Having lied about not knowing one another, and then when border guards found photos of them together in their luggage, they were denied entry to Canada.
One of those who tried to enter Canada to kill Aljabri, the lawsuit says, was travelling on a diplomatic visa.
“Having failed to finish the job in Canada, (bin Salman) continues in his attempted extrajudicial killing to this day,” say court documents. “In recent months, Defendant bin Salman obtained a fatwa directed at Dr. Saad — in this case, a ruling by religious authorities endorsing the killing of Dr. Saad.”
The lawsuit, detailing the attempts on Aljabri’s life, is an explosive new chapter in the campaign undertaken by the kingdom to force Aljabri, who’s well- known and respected in Western intelligence circles, to return to Saudi Arabia from Canada. According to the lawsuit, Aljabri has obtained permanent residence status in Canada.
Since 2017, Aljabri has quietly been living in Canada after fleeing Saudi Arabia when Mohammed bin Salman orchestrated a coup of the Saudi throne, which has since been followed by a series of purges.
The lawsuit comes in the midst of high- profile public drama between Canada and Saudi Arabia over human rights and the sale of Canadian arms to the kingdom.
Indeed, reports emerged earlier this summer of Saudi attempts to coerce another Saudi dissident living in Canada, Omar Abdulaziz, to return to the country, after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police warned him he might be in danger.
The pressure campaigns — sometimes escalating from intimidation to assassination — used against dissidents abroad is hardly an unusual tactic of the Saudi government, experts have told the National Post in interviews.
Most infamously, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was implicated in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, killed in October 2018; Saudi Arabia blames rogue agents for the killing and has sentenced five to death for their role in it.
The lawsuit filed in Washington says that bin Salman firmly believes it was Aljabri who contributed to the Central Intelligence Agency’s November 2018 conclusion that it was the Saudi government that was behind Khashoggi’s death.
“Accordingly, to Defendant bin Salman, the threat posed by Dr. Saad to Defendant bin Salman’s standing in the United States is an urgent and ongoing one,” the lawsuit says.
Aljabri was the right-hand man of Mohammed bin Nayef, who’s the nephew of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. In a palace coup, bin Nayef was deposed in favour of Mohammed bin Salman, making Aljabri a target for the new regime, a source close to the Aljabri family told the National Post earlier this year.
The lawsuit — and interviews with family sources — suggest that Aljabri “was privy to sensitive information about ( bin Salman’s) covert political scheming ... corrupt business dealings, and creation of a team of personal mercenaries that (he) would later use to carry out the extrajudicial killing of Jamal Khashoggi, among others.”
Those things, the lawsuit claims, are enough to
“existentially alter” Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the United States’ government.
In March 2020, bin Nayef, along with several others, were rounded up on suspicion of plotting a coup against bin Salman; a few days later, Aljabri’s two children — who had been barred from leaving the country in 2017 — also vanished. And in May, Reuters reported, Aljabri’s brother also disappeared.
But now, for the first time, court documents detail Saudi actions far beyond what has previously been reported.
Among the allegations is the claim that other relatives of Aljabri’s have been “arrested, detained, and tortured” to try and get him to return to Saudi Arabia.
The lawsuit contains a series of message exchanges on Whatsapp, wherein bin Salman promises to find Aljabri and bring him back to Saudi Arabia and it details the campaign to extract information from Aljabri’s family, some of whom lived in Boston in 2017.
As well, the lawsuit says the Saudi government used “baseless” allegations of corruption in a notice with INTERPOL to have Aljabri arrested in 2017. By 2018, INTERPOL had determined “the case is politically motivated rather than strictly juridical,” says the lawsuit.
The lawsuit details the efforts of the FBI in the United States to keep Aljabri and his family abreast of threats against them.
“While the U. S. government has thus far aided in the efforts to protect Dr. Saad’s life, it has been unable to prevent a credible attempt on Dr. Saad’s life by Defendant bin Salman’s agents, an attempt which remains ongoing to this day.”
The lawsuit says the attempts on his life have caused Aljabri “indescribable pain.”
“He lives in a state of extreme fear and anxiety, with insomnia and other physical effects, all because of the past credible attempts on his life and the knowledge that Defendant bin Salman wants him dead and is continuing to work, with seeming impunity, toward that ultimate objective.”
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
When asked for comment, Minister of Public Safety Bill Blais said, “While we cannot comment on specific allegations currently before the courts, we are aware of incidents in which foreign actors have attempted to monitor, intimidate or threaten Canadians and those living in Canada.
“It is completely unacceptable and we will never tolerate foreign actors threatening Canada’s national security or the safety of our citizens and residents.”
The Saudi embassy in Canada did not respond to a request for comment.