U.S. court slaps Saudi crown prince with summons over Canadian hit squad case

EDMONTON — A U.S. court has issued a summons for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a lawsuit from a former Saudi intelligence official now living in Canada who claims bin Salman attempted to assassinate him with a hit squad sent to Canada in October 2018.

On Friday, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia told the crown prince — and numerous other defendants named by Saad Aljabri — “you must serve on the plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint” within 21 days upon receipt.

A summons is an official notice that a person is being sued. The summons lists 12 additional defendants who, Aljabri alleges, were involved in the failed attempt on his life.

Last Thursday, Aljabri filed court documents alleging the “Tiger Squad,” which is part of bin Salman’s personal mercenary force, attempted to enter Canada on tourist visas (and one diplomatic visa) in October 2018 — within two weeks of the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi — to kill him.

The hit squad was denied entry, court documents say, and the squad members were deported.

“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.”

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

Aljabri has been living in Canada since 2017 after fleeing his homeland following a palace coup.  that saw bin Salman put next in line for the throne. Aljabri was the right-hand man of Mohammed bin Nayef, who’s the nephew of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. 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.

Since then, there have been numerous attempts to coerce Aljabri to return to the Kingdom, including  the abduction of two of Aljabri’s adult children, who were forbidden from leaving Saudi Arabia. The lawsuit claims he has also received text messages from bin Salman via WhatsApp.

• Email: tdawson@postmedia.com | Twitter: tylerrdawson