Former Saudi Intelligence Official Calls Crown Prince ‘Psychopath, Killer’

Former Saudi Arabian intelligence officer Saad al-Jabri said in an interview with the CBS News program 60 Minutes that Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), currently the Saudi crown prince, spoke in 2014 about the idea of killing the sitting monarch at the time, King Abdullah, to pave the way for Abdullah’s half-brother and MBS’s father, Salman bin Abdulaziz, to ascend to the throne. Al-Jabri quoted MBS as allegedly saying, “I want to assassinate King Abdullah. I get a poison ring from Russia. It’s enough for me just to shake hand(s) with him and he will be done.” Salman did become king after Abdullah died, reportedly of natural causes, in January 2015. Al-Jabri, who offered no evidence for his allegations against MBS, now lives in Canada and faces imprisonment or house arrest on corruption charges if he returns to Saudi Arabia. He told 60 Minutes that the crown prince was “a psychopath, killer” who “fears my information” and would not rest until “he sees me dead.” The Riyadh government has requested al-Jabri’s extradition and a government spokesman described him as “a discredited former government official with a long history of fabricating and creating distractions to hide the financial crimes he committed.”