News / Saudi Arabia / France / Editor's Choice

Saudi crown prince’s sister to go on trial in France in July

Thursday, 13 June 2019 6:27 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 13 June 2019 6:51 AM ]

A view of the French capital, Paris (file photo by AFP)

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s sister will be tried at a criminal court in France for ordering her bodyguard to beat up a workman in the capital, Paris, according to a legal source.

The source, who was not named, told AFP on Wednesday that Princess Hassa bint Salman was to be put on trial next month over the assault of a plumber in her luxury Paris apartment in September 2016.

The victim says he had been hired to carry out refurbishment work at Hassa’s apartment and, when he took a photograph of the room where the work was to be done, the woman became angry and accused him of intending to sell the picture to the media.

Royal outburst

Hassa, said to be in her 40s, then cursed the workman and ordered her bodyguard to beat him.

“We have to kill him, this dog. He doesn’t deserve to live,” she said, according to the worker’s account of the incident, as reported by French newspaper Le Point.

PressTV-‘Saudi year of shame: Riyadh keeps suppressing activists’

Amnesty International releases a report marking the first year since the Saudi regime launched a campaign of suppression against women’s rights activists.

The workman said he was punched in the face, his hands were tied, and he was forced to kiss the woman’s feet during an hours-long ordeal.

He said his tools were also confiscated and he was held in the apartment for several hours before being allowed to leave.

AFP reported at the time of the incident that the workman’s injuries had been so severe that he was ordered off work for eight days.

France issued an arrest warrant for Hassa in March 2018.

Bint Salman’s bodyguard was also charged in 2016 with armed violence, theft, issuing death threats, and holding an individual against their will.

Her trial is due to begin on July 9, the source said, and the Saudi princess is expected to face the charges in absentia as she has not been apprehended despite an international arrest warrant issued in 2017.

Hassa’s brother, Mohammed has been involved in an international scandal of his own over the brutal murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul last October.