Absolutely terrifying’: Saudi Arabia accused of using European embassies to target critics aboard

Absolutely terrifying’: Saudi Arabia accused of using European embassies to target critics aboard

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audi dissidents have said they fear for their lives following reports alleging Riyadh had used its European embassies to target critics abroad in the months before journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at its consulate in Istanbul.  

In the summer of 2018, Saudi officials harangued a critic at their London embassy and dispatched a massive security team to Norway, possibly to target a dissident exile activist, according to reports.  

The reports, published this week in the mainstream Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, raise serious questions about the extent to which the regime in Saudi uses its embassies and consulates abroad as staging grounds for intelligence operations targeting dissidents and perceived enemies of the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.