The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet wrote in a report that in the summer of 2018, the Saudi government’s death squad attempted to target Iyad el-Baghdadi, an opponent of the Riyadh government who had taken refuge in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Riyadh’s embassy in Oslo had attempted to bring ten security agents into Norway under the pretext of increasing security at its premises. But the embassy’s request has aroused fear and opposition from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The total number of employees of the Saudi embassy in Oslo being 18, the entry of ten security agents was not justifiable. As a result, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted diplomatic immunity and entry to only one person.
A knowledgeable source told Dagbladet that the Saudi government had tried to present the agents as diplomats so that they would have a wider scope of action.
According to the report, Norwegian officials informed Iyad el-Baghdadi a few months later that the Saudi government was seeking to eliminate him through its diplomatic delegation.
El-Baghdadi, of Palestinian origin, had been imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates for some time before travelling to Norway. He currently remains there as a stateless refugee. El-Baghdadi also had ties to Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally killed in October 2018 at the Riyadh consulate in Istanbul.
The information was denied by the Saudi government.(AN)
by Basit Abbasi