Jared Kushner called Mohammed bin Salman in an attempt to stop him from carrying out executions
By David Hearst
Published date: 17 June 2019 11:35 UTC | Last update: 7 hours 24 min ago
Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son in law and senior adviser, intervened personally in an attempt to stop Saudi Arabia embarking on a new wave of executions, as Washington attempts to build a coalition against Iran.
Kushner called Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman earlier this month, a few days after CNN broadcast exclusive footage of Murtaja Queriris, a juvenile on death row, participating in a 2011 youth protest at the age of 10, two Saudi sources with knowledge of the conversation told Middle East Eye.
Queriris, who was subsequently arrested three years later over his involvement in protests and condemned to death, has had his sentence commuted to 12 years in prison, a Saudi official quoted by the Reuters news agency said on Saturday.
“He will not be executed,” the official said.
However, there is no word of the fate of three other young men, Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdulla al-Zaher, who also stand accused of committing crimes as minors.
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According to MEE’s sources, Kushner raised these cases with Mohammed bin Salman, warning that a new wave of executions would damage Riyadh’s image in the US Congress at a time when the White House was trying to assemble support for action against Iran.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kushner-asked-mohammed-bin-salman-stay-saudi-wave-executions
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kushner-asked-mohammed-bin-salman-stay-saudi-wave-executions
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