Shades of Jamal Khashoggi. A critic of the Saudi regime faces a threat from Saudi Arabia according to The Guardian, which says he was warned by the CIA official in Norway.
According to U.S. doctrine, U.S. intelligence officials have a “duty to warn” potential targets if they learn of threats to specific individuals. While investigators have recently learned that the “duty to warn” is shrouded in official secrecy, the reported visit to Iyad El-Baghdadi in Norway would seem to be an example.
El-Baghdadi is a Palestinian-born writer who is active on Twitter and gained prominence during the Arab spring, when he began tweeting about the Egyptian uprising. His English translations of Arabic tweets, and sarcastic takedowns of autocratic leaders, gained him tens of thousands of Twitter followers. He was granted political asylum in Norway in 2015, after his arrest and expulsion from the UAE, which forced him to leave without any formal charges or trial.
Baghdadi’s response?
Source: CIA warns Arab activist of potential threat from Saudi Arabia | US news | The Guardian
