Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

Former Saudi spy chief wins evidence order in US court battle

Former Saudi spy chief wins evidence order in US court battle

US judge rules Air Canada and Lufthansa airlines must preserve flight records that Saad al-Jabri says show the travel to Canada of the assassins allegedly sent to kill him
A United States district judge has ordered two airlines to preserve a set of flight records that former Saudi intelligence chief Saad al-Jabri argues is essential to his legal battle against Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

The judge issued a preservation order, seen by Middle East Eye, which states that Air Canada and Lufthansa must not destroy any evidence showing that Saudi agents identified by Jabri had travelled on flights to Canada.

He ruled the records must be readily available if the ongoing lawsuit against MBS survives a motion to dismiss it.

"The Court finds that there is substantial reason to believe that the airlines—Air Canada and Lufthansa—will fail to preserve the evidence [Jabri] has identified," said the order, filed on Thursday.

It added that "the destruction of the evidence would result in irreparable harm because, once destroyed, the evidence cannot be used for any purpose and cannot be recreated".

The order comes after Jabri filed a motion earlier this month to subpoena the two airlines for the set of flight records, which he alleges show that members of a Saudi hit team - known as the Tiger Squad and whose existence was first revealed by MEE - travelled on the two airlines to Canada in an attempt to kill him in 2018.

In the motion, Jabri says that Air Canada confirmed "that relevant information pertaining to the Tiger Squad’s October 2018 flight to Canada" did exist, but refused to take any steps to preserve the evidence without a court order.

While the judge dismissed Jabri's motion, saying it was too early to bring the records to court, the decision could eventually provide the essential evidence Jabri needs to help his legal case.

"This is a significant step towards holding MBS accountable for an ongoing transnational repression campaign against al-Jabri family that included an attempt on Dr Saad’s life and kidnapping two of his children," a source familiar with the case and the plight of the Jabri family told MEE.

"It is a significant win because MBS’s lawyers and his co-counsel in their desperate opposition to the production of these documents have basically shown their hands. They are concerned and so is MBS."

A spokesperson for Lufthansa told MEE that the company "does not comment on ongoing investigations and legal disputes".

Air Canada did not respond to MEE's request for comment.
Transnational legal battle

Jabri, a former top Saudi counterterrorism official who had close ties with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the US, has been fighting a multi-fronted legal battle against MBS in US and Canadian courts, after first filing a lawsuit against the crown prince in August 2020.

He alleges MBS sent members of the "Tiger Squad" to assassinate him in Canada, just weeks after the murder of Saudi journalist and MEE columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The plot was ultimately foiled after the individuals failed to pass border control.

In January, a group of Saudi state-run companies filed a lawsuit against Jabri in Canada, accusing him of embezzling billions of dollars - the court subsequently ordered a worldwide asset freeze on him.

A source close to Jabri previously dismissed the allegations brought forward by the Saudi companies as a "blind vendetta", and denied any financial wrongdoings.

The former top intelligence officer was the second-in-command in the kingdom's Interior Ministry before he fled in 2017 shortly before his boss, former Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef was put under house arrest and replaced by his cousin, MBS.

He had also been a key go-between for western spy agencies and the Saudi intelligence apparatus and has been credited by US lawmakers with saving the lives of hundreds of Americans.

He is believed to be one of several prominent Saudis, including princes and dissidents, targeted by the Saudi hit squad.

Earlier this year, a group of top US senators urged President Joe Biden to personally advocate for the release of Jabri's two children, Omar and Sarah, both of whom were arrested in March 2020 and held incommunicado until January 2021, according to the Human Rights Watch (HRW).

HRW said Omar was sentenced to nine years and Sarah was sentenced to six, on charges of "money laundering" and "attempting to escape" Saudi Arabia.

MEE reached out to the Saudi embassy in Washington and the attorneys for the defendants in the US court case, including MBS's lawyer, but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
×