MbZ and the death of Khalid al-Qasimi

Arab Paper: Son of Sharjah Emir Killed by MbZ. 

FARSJuly 27, 2019 - 2:53

TEHRAN (FNA)- The 39-year-old son of the emir of Sharjah Khalid Al Qasimi was killed by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, a Lebanese paper reported.

The Arabic language al-Akhbar newspaper quoted informed sources as saying on Saturday that Khalid al-Qasimi was killed upon bin Zayed's order in a complicated operation planned several months ago.

The murder happened after security reports provided to Mohammed bin Zayed said that the assassinated prince had contacts with the Saudi security apparatus, which acts under the command of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. [aka MbS]

The sources said that the murder was done to send the message that Abu Dhabi can control contacts between the UAE princes and Saudi Arabia and warn other [Emirati] princes to avoid secretive ties with Riyadh.

Khalid Al Qasimi, the 39-year-old son of the emir of Sharjah [a UAE state], was found lifeless in his bathroom in his Sussex home earlier this month, and London police said his death is being treated as unexplained.

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I find it preposterous that MbZ had Khalid assassinated, and it would take a boatload of vetted information to persuade me to even consider the possibility that Khalid had secretly worked with a Saudi security agency.

Khalid was an artist -- fashion designer and architect. He was profoundly anti-war, and strongly against the conflicts that have ripped up the Middle East. He was also the only surviving male heir of his father's royal house. And he was a very shrewd businessman. I cannot imagine such a person sticking his neck out to deal secretly with a government that he must have despised.  

And surely the sentiment was returned from the Saudi side given that Khalid represented the secularized hybrid Westernized-Arab Muslim that is anathema to Saudi Wahhabism. 

Khalid was very obviously a great example of Emirati and Muslim religious and cultural tolerance, all of which MbZ has gone to lengths to promote. Why, then, would he kill off such a great asset to his government?   

As to the "unexplained circumstances" of Khalid's death: from unnamed sources probably in the ambulance crew and/or police that discovered Khalid's body, it's likely that he died the same way that his older brother did -- from heroin.  (Or maybe a combination of heroin and another drug.)  But it's just because signs point to drugs killing off the emir's only surviving male heir that I can see the British government tactfully dragging its feet about announcing the cause of death if the emir requested silence.  

The accusation against the de facto ruler of the UAE comes on the coattails of the widely publicized belief that the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, MbS, was personally involved in the plot to murder a Saudi expat journalist (Jamal Khashoggi). And the accusation against MbZ was published within days of the bombshell report in the New York Times that made clear of the division that had opened between the two rulers about their war in Yemen.

When I add in the great disenchantment with Saudi Arabia that has settled in among Westerners, with Khashoggi's murder the final straw, I would be more willing to believe that al-Akhbar bought and published a Saudi-concocted lie about MbZ than I'd believe he murdered Khalid al-Qasimi.  

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