A former Saudi official alleged in a report that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman forged the signature of his father on the royal decree that launched the kingdom’s years-long, stalemated war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
In al-Jabri’s remarks to the BBC, he said a “credible, reliable” official linked to the Saudi Interior Ministry confirmed that Prince Mohammed signed the royal decree declaring war in place of his father.
“We were surprised that there was a royal decree to allow the ground interventions,” al-Jabri told the BBC. “He forged the signature of his dad for that royal decree. The king’s mental capacity was deteriorating.”
Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the allegations made without supporting evidence by Saad al-Jabri in an interview published Monday by the BBC, though the kingdom has described him as “a discredited
Al-Jabri, a former Saudi intelligence official who lives in exile in Canada, has been in a years-long dispute with the kingdom, as his two children have been imprisoned in what he describes as an attempt to lure him back to Saudi Arabia.
The allegation comes as Prince Mohammed is serving as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, often meeting with foreign leaders and diplomats in place of his father, the 88-year-old King Salman.
His assertive behavior, particularly at the start of his ascension to power around the beginning of the Yemen civil war in 2015, extended to a wider crackdown on any perceived dissent or power base that could challenge his rule.
