Middle East

The Saudi Kingdom: An ally of US and Israel and the incarnation of Barbarism.

03/12/2018

Saudi campaign to abduct and silence rivals abroad goes back decades

By Kareem Fahim and Loveday Morris
November 4, 2018

Faisal al Jarba fled his native Saudi Arabia late last year as the danger drew near — after his patron, a powerful Saudi prince, was arrested and after a friend died in suspicious circumstances while in government custody.

Jarba, a leading sheikh in a large tribe, traveled to the Jordanian capital, Amman, joining relatives there. But that was not nearly far enough. Jordanian security officers surrounded his house one evening in early June and took him away for questioning, assuring his family he would be back soon.

Within days, however, he was driven to the border with Saudi Arabia and handed over to the Saudi authorities, according to two people familiar with the details of Jarba’s forced repatriation, which has not previously been reported. There have been no charges filed against Jarba, 45, and in the five months since he was captured, his family has received no proof that he is still alive, the people said.

The killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last month by a team of Saudi agents dispatched from Riyadh has prompted fresh scrutiny of the kingdom’s pursuit of Saudi nationals abroad, from ordinary dissidents to defectors from the tight ranks of the royal family.