'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
A former top Saudi intelligence official who is living in exile accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday of targeting him, and made an unprecedented public plea to the Biden administration to help obtain the release of his children jailed in Saudi Arabia.
Saad al-Jabri was long an aide to another Saudi royal, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, whom bin Salman, or MbS, ousted as heir to the throne in a 2017 palace coup. MbS is now de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and a U.S. ally.
In August 2019, Jabri, who now lives in Canada, filed a 107-page lawsuit in a U.S. court alleging that the crown prince "dispatched a "hit squad" to kill him in October 2018 and that Canadian authorities foiled the attempt.
Last year, a Saudi court jailed two of Saad al-Jabri's adult children for money laundering and conspiracy to escape the kingdom unlawfully, charges they deny.
In his first interview since leaving the kingdom, Jabri said MbS has "no empathy," and that the 36-year old leader is a threat to the people of Saudi Arabia, Americans and the rest of the world.
"I have to speak out. I am appealing to the American people and to the American administration to help me to release those children and to restore their life," a visibly emotional Jabri told CBS television's "60 Minutes" show.
The Saudi embassy in Washington and the Saudi government media office CIC did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The "60 Minutes" Twitter account posted a statement from the Saudi embassy in Washington that said Jabri was a "discredited former government official with a long history of fabricating."
The crown prince's lawyers have rejected Jabri's allegations and said MbS has legal immunity in the United States as a foreign head of state.
Last year, MbS's lawyer, Michael Kellogg, dismissed the allegations, describing them as "steeped in drama."
Jabri's allegations come more than three years after Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-born U.S. resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington Post critical of MbS, was killed and dismembered by a team of operatives linked to the prince in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.
The Saudi government has denied any involvement by the crown prince, but a U.S. intelligence report concluded in February that he had approved of an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, although the Biden administration did not directly penalize MbS.
U.S. President Joe Biden has taken a tougher stand with Riyadh on its human rights record and the Yemen war than his predecessor Donald Trump, who had strong ties with MbS.
Jabri spent many years as bin Nayef's closest aide at the Ministry of Interior, including helping to overhaul the kingdom's intelligence and counterterrorism operations.
In January, a group of Saudi state-owned firms alleged in a lawsuit in Canada that Jabri embezzled billions of dollars of state funds while working at the Ministry of Interior.
Jabri denied stealing any money, saying he had served Saudi royals for two decades and they had been "very generous" under a tradition whereby "they take care of people around them."
The Saudi embassy statement to "60 Minutes" said reforms led by Prince Mohammed have "put an end to this type of gross corruption."
In the interview, Jabri said he had recorded a video revealing more information that could be released should he be killed. "I expect to be killed one day because this guy will not rest off until he sees me dead," he said.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting Raya Jalabi in Dubai, editing by Diane Craft and Timothy Heritage)
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.