Following the publication of an article in The New York Times Tuesday claiming that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is taking advise from Egypt’s notorious Mubarak-era Interior Minister Habib al-Adli, the Saudi embassy in Washington is now denying the claim.
Relying on testimonies from unnamed Egyptian officials, the newspaper said that “The former Egyptian security chief, Habib el-Adli [is] said by one of his advisers and a former Egyptian interior minister to be advising Prince Mohammed”.
It went on to say that it had spoken to Saudi embassy spokesperson Fatimah Baeshen who allegedly said that “the embassy could not confirm or dispute” the reports.
Through his Twitter account, Director of Communications at the Saudi embassy in Washington Saud Kabli refuted the allegations, saying that they are “categorically not true”.
On allegations related to the former Egyptian security chief Adli advising us: we expressed surprise and said “we would check and revert.” How did that become: “the embassy could not confirm or dispute?” We can now confirm that @NYTBen ‘s claim is categorically not true.
— سعود كابلي (@saudkabli) November 16, 2017
Habib al-Adli served as former President Hosni Mubarak’s Interior Minister from 1997 to 2011 and was infamous for the brutal torture methods he sanctioned.
In April, he was sentenced to seven years in prison over corruption charges, with the court accusing him of embezzling billions of pounds of state funds during his time in office.
The sentence came less than a month after Hosni Mubarak himself was freed from detention following his acquittal of charges of being involved in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.
Al-Adly submitted an appeal against his seven-year verdict, which in May was rejected by the court. Since then, the whereabouts of the former minister has been unknown and he is considered a fugitive from justice by Egyptian authorities.
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