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The United States Department of State said in a letter it has repeatedly requested that Saudi Arabia "clarify the status and nature" of the detention of two children of a former top Saudi intelligence officer exiled in Canada who has alleged that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) wants to assassinate him.
The State Department letter came in response to one sent by four US senators last month, calling on President Donald Trump to help free the detained children of Saad al-Jabri, who has worked closely with the US.
"For years, Dr. Aljabri was the US Embassy in Riyadh's counterpart on shared counterterrorism efforts and responded around the clock to threats against our Mission and personnel," stated the letter by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs Ryan M Kaldahl.
It says the US appreciates Al-Jabri's "contributions to keeping our citizens safe" and "absent sufficient and compelling justification" will continue to advocate for the wellbeing of Al-Jabri's children.
The joint letter - sent last month by Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy, Tim Kaine and Chris Van Hollen - said the Saudi royal family was holding the children of Saad al-Jabri, Sarah and Omar, as leverage to force his return to the kingdom.
The two adult children, and a brother of Saad al-Jabri, who is said to hold key state secrets, were detained in Riyadh in March.
Al-Jabri had earlier attempted to get his children to leave Saudi Arabia, but authorities had placed them under a travel ban, according to reports.
The former spy filed a lawsuit [PDF] in US federal court on Thursday that accused MBS of dispatching people to hunt him down in the US and sending a hit squad to kill him in Canada. The latter plot was foiled because the hit team, referred to as "the Tiger Squad" was denied entry to Canada, court documents said.
The suit claims that MBS has been trying to kill al-Jabri for the past three years, that "Defendant bin Salman continues in his attempted extrajudicial killing to this day", and that MBS has obtained "a ruling by religious authorities endorsing the killing of Dr. Saad [Al-Jabri]".
The State Department letter came in response to one sent by four US senators last month, calling on President Donald Trump to help free the detained children of Saad al-Jabri, who has worked closely with the US.
"For years, Dr. Aljabri was the US Embassy in Riyadh's counterpart on shared counterterrorism efforts and responded around the clock to threats against our Mission and personnel," stated the letter by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs Ryan M Kaldahl.
It says the US appreciates Al-Jabri's "contributions to keeping our citizens safe" and "absent sufficient and compelling justification" will continue to advocate for the wellbeing of Al-Jabri's children.
The joint letter - sent last month by Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy, Tim Kaine and Chris Van Hollen - said the Saudi royal family was holding the children of Saad al-Jabri, Sarah and Omar, as leverage to force his return to the kingdom.
The two adult children, and a brother of Saad al-Jabri, who is said to hold key state secrets, were detained in Riyadh in March.
Al-Jabri had earlier attempted to get his children to leave Saudi Arabia, but authorities had placed them under a travel ban, according to reports.
The former spy filed a lawsuit [PDF] in US federal court on Thursday that accused MBS of dispatching people to hunt him down in the US and sending a hit squad to kill him in Canada. The latter plot was foiled because the hit team, referred to as "the Tiger Squad" was denied entry to Canada, court documents said.
The suit claims that MBS has been trying to kill al-Jabri for the past three years, that "Defendant bin Salman continues in his attempted extrajudicial killing to this day", and that MBS has obtained "a ruling by religious authorities endorsing the killing of Dr. Saad [Al-Jabri]".
