Appeals Court Eyes Discovery in Claimed Saudi Assassination Plot

Federal appeals court judges appeared open to allowing more discovery in a former Saudi intelligence officer’s civil case against the crown prince and others related to his claim they sought to kill him.

Oral arguments on Monday before a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit centered on Saad Aljabri’s suit seeking money damages under the Torture Victim Protection Act.

Aljabri fled Saudi Arabia and now resides in Canada, but his attorneys say much of the “hunt” to locate him unfolded on US soil via a network of spies tied to Mohammed bin Salman.

Following their search, a so-called “Tiger Squad” of assassins attempted to enter Canada to murder Aljabri, but were blocked by border agents, the suit says.

Aljabri claims he’s been targeted because he was “privy to sensitive information” involving “bin Salman’s covert political scheming,” and had close ties with US intelligence.

Lawyers for the Saudi government have described the allegations in court filings as “inflammatory” and “baseless.”

US District Judge Timothy Kelly dismissed Aljabri’s case in October 2022 after finding his allegations were not sufficiently tied to the US and as a result, the court didn’t have authority to hear his claims.

But DC Circuit judges J. Michelle Childs and Neomi Rao seemed interested at argument in permitting jurisdictional discovery.

Additional investigation would be used to determine if the alleged plot has sufficient connections to the US for the case to proceed.

Childs, a Joe Biden appointee, said that when it comes to a “clandestine operation,” a litigant “can only get so far” when trying to learn more about a particular conspiracy.

Rao, a Donald Trump appointee, added that the court’s standards for jurisdictional discovery “are pretty plaintiff-friendly in this circuit.”

Judge Judith Rogers, a Bill Clinton appointee, appeared remotely through audio and didn’t ask questions.

Immunity Raised

Michael Kellogg, an attorney for the crown prince, asserted that he should be immune from the suit since becoming prime minister in September 2022, which was after the case was fully briefed at the lower court.

Lindsay Harrison of Jenner & Block, an attorney for Aljabri, said the immunity issue is a “hard question” and suggested the appeals court invite the Biden administration to weigh in on whether the crown prince should be considered a head of state who is shielded from suit.

Aljabri was a top adviser to former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted in June 2017.

Harrison described her client at oral argument as a key intelligence partner for the US since 9/11. She also said the FBI had warned Aljabri of the risk to his life.

The alleged plot is said to have materialized not long after the 2018 killing in Istanbul of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who called for government reform in Saudi Arabia.

The crown prince has denied any involvement in the killing, while accepting “full responsibility” for it as the country’s de facto leader. US intelligence concluded he had likely approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, Bloomberg reported.

The case is: Saad Aljabri v. Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, No. 22-7150 Argument