Fogbow

Saudi Operatives Who Killed Khashoggi Received Paramilitary Training in U.S.
The training, approved by the State Department, underscores the perils of military partnerships with repressive governments.

By Mark Mazzetti, Julian E. Barnes and Michael LaForgia
June 22, 2021 Updated 8:52 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Four Saudis who participated in the 2018 killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in the United States the previous year under a contract approved by the State Department, according to documents and people familiar with the arrangement.

The instruction occurred as the secret unit responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s killing was beginning an extensive campaign of kidnapping, detention and torture of Saudi citizens ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, to crush dissent inside the kingdom.

The training was provided by the Arkansas-based security company Tier 1 Group, which is owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The company says the training — including “safe marksmanship” and “countering an attack” — was defensive in nature and devised to better protect Saudi leaders. One person familiar with the training said it also included work in surveillance and close-quarters battle.

There is no evidence that the American officials who approved the training or Tier 1 Group executives knew that the Saudis were involved in the crackdown inside Saudi Arabia. But the fact that the government approved high-level military training for operatives who went on to carry out the grisly killing of a journalist shows how intensely intertwined the United States has become with an autocratic nation even as its agents committed horrific human rights abuses.

It also underscores the perils of military partnerships with repressive governments and demonstrates how little oversight exists for those forces after they return home.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/us/p ... ining.html?

Jeffrey Goldberg @JeffreyGoldberg wrote: MBS has told people close to him that the murder of Khashoggi was the "worst thing ever to happen to me."
He told @gcaw and me that the murder "hurt me a lot. It hurt me and it hurt Saudi Arabia, from a feelings perspective."

Read @gcaw's story here:

Bloomberg @business wrote: The US approved the potential sale of additional Patriot missiles and related equipment to Saudi Arabia in a deal valued at as much as $3.05 billion, just weeks after an awkward meeting between Biden and MBS

Family: Saudis sentence US citizen to 16 years over tweets

AP
Tue, October 18, 2022 at 7:29 PM·

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An American citizen has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States, his son said Tuesday.

Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested last November while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim told The Associated Press, confirming details that were first reported by the Washington Post. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials.

State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel, speaking to reporters in Washington, confirmed Almadi's detention Tuesday.

“We have consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding the case at senior levels of the Saudi government, both through channels in Riyadh and Washington DC as well and we will continue to do so,” he said. “We have raised this with members of the Saudi government as recently as yesterday.”

It appeared to be the latest in a series of recent cases in which Saudis received long jail sentences for social media posts critical of the government.

Saudi authorities have tightened their crackdown on dissent following the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is seeking to open up and transform the ultraconservative kingdom but has adopted a hard line toward any criticism.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/family-saudi ... 54083.html

Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to humiliate Biden as part of a global power play

Tom Porter
Fri, October 28, 2022 at 1:41 PM·

Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia are worsening.

Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman wants to assert himself internationally.

He humiliated the Biden administration by cancelling a secret oil deal.

This week, a diplomat spat between the US and Saudi Arabia degenerated into petty name-calling, a public sign of the dire state of relations between the two countries.

The exchange, fueled by a dispute over oil production, is a further blow to an alliance which for decades has been marked by predictability: The US provides arms and security to the Saudis, and gains a key strategic partner in a volatile region in return.

It is a change driven by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is deliberately snubbing the US in an attempt to chart a more independent path, an expert told Insider.

Giorgio Cafiero, the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, said: "With Mohammed bin Salman at the helm, Saudi Arabia is very determined to assert its autonomy from the US.

"The leadership in Riyadh has been sending many signals to Washington that the Kingdom will pursue its own national interests as perceived by Saudi officials, which includes deepening cooperation with Beijing and Moscow."

Specifically, this has taken the form of Saudi Arabia joining Russia other oil-rich nations to announce a steep cut in production.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/saudi-ruler- ... 05730.html

Phoenix520 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 2:41 pm ... imagine what they must have been plotting.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 3:32 pm Repent! And if you chose the one and only proper brand of xianity you may repeat tomorrow without sorrow

U.S. moves to shield Saudi crown prince in killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
The administration said the prince’s official standing should give him immunity in the lawsuit filed by the fiancée of slain the Washington Post columnist and the rights group he founded.

The Biden administration declared Thursday that the high office held by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince should shield him from lawsuits for his role in the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, a turnaround from Joe Biden’s passionate campaign trail denunciations of Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the brutal slaying.

The administration said the prince’s official standing should give him immunity in the lawsuit filed by the fiancée of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and by the rights group he founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now.

The request is non-binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity. But it is bound to anger human rights activists and many U.S. lawmakers, coming as Saudi Arabia has stepped up imprisonment and other retaliation against peaceful critics at home and abroad and has cut oil production, a move seen as undercutting efforts by the U.S. and its allies to punish Russia for its war against Ukraine.

Suranis wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 5:51 am What the hell do the Saudis have? In terms of society they make Iran look like a Homosexial Pride march, In terms of
Terrorism they have done SO MUCH that any other country would be Radioactive Glass my now. But they do actuve shut against the west and USA in articular and the USA just comes up wagging its tail and beffing for more.

Hell the Saudis financially backed Musk in his takeover of Twitter and are now sitting back looking innocent as the incompetent ass wrecks it. They are NO FANS of "freedom of speech"

What gives?

neonzx wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 4:25 pm The Saudis are our heroin dealers and we are the addicts.

Saudi Arabian academic on death row for using Twitter and WhatsApp
Court documents reveal reasons for Awad Al-Qarni’s arrest – even though rulers are major investors in social media platforms

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Sun 15 Jan 2023 05.00 GMT

A prominent pro-reform law professor in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to death for alleged crimes including having a Twitter account and using WhatsApp to share news considered “hostile” to the kingdom, according to court documents seen by the Guardian.

The arrest of Awad Al-Qarni, 65, in September 2017 represented the start of a crackdown against dissent by the then newly named crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Details of the charges brought against Al-Qarni have now been shared with the Guardian by his son Nasser, who last year fled the kingdom and is living in the UK, where he has said he is seeking asylum protection.

Al-Qarni has been portrayed in Saudi-controlled media as a dangerous preacher, but dissidents have said Al-Qarni was an important and well-regarded intellectual with a strong social media following, including 2m Twitter followers.

Human rights advocates and Saudi dissidents living in exile have warned that authorities in the kingdom are engaged in a new and severe crackdown on individuals who are perceived to be critics of the Saudi government. Last year, Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds PhD student and mother of two, received a 34-year sentence for having a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and activists. Another woman, Noura al-Qahtani, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for using Twitter.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... d-whatsapp