Middle East Eye: Saudi dissident escaped same fate as Khashoggi in Beirut

SANAA, Jan. 29 (YPA) – A Saudi opposition resident in Lebanon could have had a similar situation with Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated at his country’s embassy in Istanbul, the Middle East Eye reported on Monday.

According to the Middle East Eye, three and a half months after the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul, a Saudi dissident has come forward alleging that he was similarly lured into the Gulf country’s embassy in Lebanon.

He said that he would have also met a gruesome end had he not been accompanied by bodyguards.

Maan al-Jaraba, the leader of the Saudi opposition group Harakat al-Karama (Movement for Dignity), spoke to online news outlet Lebanon Debate about the trap purportedly set up against him in September – only days before Khashoggi’s assassination.

A source close to the Saudi exhibitions, Maan Al Jarba, who manages an internet site called “Saudi reality “, spoke to “Middle East” to confirm events.

As in the case with Khashoggi, Saudi authorities reportedly told Jarba that they wanted to talk to him, to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia.

On the day of the meeting, Jarba went to the chosen place for the meeting, and he was accompanied by three armed bodyguards. There were another security forces nearby.

” The embassy staff who welcomed him were surprised to see the bodyguards,” the source said, adding, “they thought that the Jarba would come alone.”

“He didn’t trust them, so he took the precaution of going to the meeting with his bodyguards. That’s probably what saved him”, the source said.

E.M