Al Jazeera presenter accuses Saudi of threatening to kill him

Al Jazeera presenter Jamal Rayyan revealed that he has received several death threats from Saudi intelligence agencies after criticising the kingdom and asking the monarch, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, to apologise to Qatar.

The Palestinian media figure tweeted: “I received three death threats in a week from the Saudi intelligence. They threatened to shoot me or kill me in the same way they did with martyr Jamal Khashoggi, in order to stop me from criticising Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses and religious persecution of oppositionists. Do Saudis approve of such threats?”

وصلتني ثلاثة تهديدات بالقتل خلال أسبوع من المخابرات السعودية ، قتل بالرصاص او على طريقة قتل الشهيد جمال خاشقجي ، بهدف وقفي عن انتقاد انتهاكات السعودية للقيم الدينية والإنسانية في تعاملها مع الخصوم ، فهل يؤيد الشعب السعودي هذه التهديدات #السعودية

— جمال ريان (@jamalrayyan) April 19, 2020

Rayyan called on Saudi Arabia to cut ties with the UAE, adding that the kingdom’s sovereignty has been hijacked by Abu Dhabi.

كيف تقبل السعودية على سيادتها ان تكون مخطوفة من الإمارات؟ #السعودية #الخليج https://t.co/636ipfxqPu

— جمال ريان (@jamalrayyan) April 15, 2020

Addressing Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, the journalist wrote: “Does the young Prince Mohammed Bin Salman know that most of the crises in which Saudi Arabia has been involved, are caused by the UAE, and can only be solved in Doha? If I were him, I would stay modest, overlook prejudices, and get in my plane or my car and head to Qatar today before the situation gets worse.”

هل يعلم الامير الشاب محمد بن سلمان أن معظم الأزمات التي تورطت فيها السعودية سببها الإمارات،وان حلها في الدوحة ، لو كنت في مكانه لتواضعت ونحيت الشيطان جانبا ، وركبت طائرتي او سيارتي باتجاه قطر اليوم قبل استفحالها ؟ #السعودية #قطر #الخليج pic.twitter.com/nltDsmQriY

— جمال ريان (@jamalrayyan) April 15, 2020

Rayyan asked King Salman to apologise to Qatar. “Having the humility to apologise is a quality of great men. King Abdulaziz once apologised for a mistake he made against Qatar (and this was documented). Now the same scenario has been reproduced, so why wouldn’t he apologise for doing Qatar wrong?”

الاعتذار من شيم الكبار ، سبق وأن اعتذر الملك عبد العزيز على خطأ ارتكبه بحق قطر "موثق "،الان وقد تكرر نفس السيناريو : لماذا لا يعتذر الملك سلمان عن أخطائه بحق قطر ؟ من هو الملك الأرجل؟ @abdulrahman #السعودية #الخليج

— جمال ريان (@jamalrayyan) April 19, 2020

Saudi Prince Abdulrahman Bin Musaad Bin Abdulaziz hit back claiming Qatar was recruiting Al Jazeera journalists to attack Saudi Arabia.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed on 2 October 2018 in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. Saudi admitted he had been killed in a premeditated attack.

Among those indicted were high-level officials such as former deputy intelligence chief Ahmad Asiri and former royal aide Saud Al-Qahtani.

READ: No breakthrough in Gulf dispute, Qatar foreign minister says

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan claimed that Khashoggi’s killing was ordered at the “highest levels” of the Saudi government, implicating Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) who has denied ordering the killing but acknowledged that it happened “under his watch”. A report by the UN and the CIA also concluded that MBS was behind the assassination.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt cut ties with Qatar after accusing Doha of supporting terrorism. Charges Doha denied. The four countries imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the small Gulf state which has not been lifted since.