Saudi Arabia dissidents living in fear of the reach of Riyadh

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi and a rise in forced repatriations has sent a wave of unease through Saudi dissidents living abroad.

Saudi Arabia and Times story

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate has sent fear through Saudi dissidents abroad, including those targeted in an apparent campaign to lure critics back.

While denying there was any premeditated order to kill him, ­Riyadh admits it had sought to return him to the kingdom from self-imposed exile, part of a pattern of repatriation efforts that have ­accelerated under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Friends of Khashoggi say the crown prince’s brother, Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the US, had sought to persuade him to return home with the offer of a job at the royal court or in a Riyadh think tank.

Khashoggi fled to Washington last year after he was banned by the Saudi royal family from writing or making public appearances following his criticism of President Donald Trump. He became a US resident and wrote for The Washington Post from Virginia. Khashoggi told friends he feared Saudi Arabia’s offer was a ruse to make him ­return, meaning he could be ­arrested, so he refused.

Other exiles have been forcibly returned. Loujain al-Hathloul, 29, a women’s rights activist, was driving in the UAE in March when sec­urity agents stopped her and drove her to Dubai airport, where she was put on a plane to Riyadh.

One of Jamal Khashoggi’s sons with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Picture: AP

She is in jail alongside other women who campaigned for the right to drive. Her husband, Fahad Albutairi, a comedian, was abducted in Jordan and forcibly returned home.

Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi dissident who has lived in Montreal since 2009, said he was visited in May by Saudi government agents who tried to persuade him to return.

They told him they were sent by the crown prince, and brought one of his brothers to add pressure.

After he refused, two of his brothers and eight of his friends were arrested.

Mr Abdulaziz also turned down pressure to visit the Saudi embassy in Ottawa to renew his passport, a decision he believes may have saved his life.

He and Khashoggi had been working on a project to help Saudi critics inside the kingdom hide their identities online.

Other Saudi dissidents say Khashoggi’s murder was a message that the kingdom could target them wherever they were. Saudi Arabia says the killing was the result of a brawl gone wrong.

The Times