A big allegation has been leveled against the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Former Saudi Arabian intelligence officer Saad al-Jabri has accused the Crown Prince of forging the signature of his father King Salman on a royal decree. After the signing of this royal decree, Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen started.
Saad al-Jabri claimed in an interview with the BBC and a subsequent statement to the news agency Associated Press that the Crown Prince signed the royal decree without the knowledge of his father King Salman.
Al-Jabri is currently living in exile in Canada and has a long-standing enmity with the Saudi government. His two children are jailed in Saudi Arabia, regarding which Jabri says that the Saudi government wants to imprison his children and force them to return to the country.
He has alleged that the Crown Prince wants to kill him. According to the AP report, Jabri said, ‘They planned to murder me. They will not get peace until I am killed. I have no doubt about it.
He said that he will do everything possible to free his children from captivity. He also said that he is not anti-national but a high-ranking officer who is dedicated to the protection of Saudi Arabia.
Fake signature and changed strategy of Yemen war
Al-Jabri claimed that a reliable source inside the Saudi Interior Ministry told him that Mohammed bin Salman, who was the defense minister at the time, signed the royal decree on King Salman’s behalf. King Salman was not even aware of this.
Al-Jabri also said that the then Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef had organized a meeting to formulate a strategy for the Yemen war, in which many disagreements were seen.
The actual plan regarding the Yemen war was made in collaboration with the then Obama administration, in which air strikes were to be carried out in Yemen and not ground action. However, the crown prince forged his father’s signature on a royal decree, allowing Saudi Arabia to move ahead with plans for a ground attack in Yemen, al-Jabri said.
What did Saudi Arabia say?
The Saudi government rejected al-Jabri’s claims, saying he was a ‘disgraced former official’. At the same time, the US State Ministry has refused to comment on this.
More than 1.5 lakh people died in Yemen war
The devastating war in Yemen began in 2015, killing more than 150,000 people and creating a major humanitarian crisis. At the beginning of the war, Prince Salman had assured that it would end soon but it has been almost a decade and it is still going on.