Saudi Arabia assisting their citizens charged abroad to flee

In the last few years, Oregon has noticed that a few Saudis who are in state for college and charged with crimes get their bail posted by the consulate and then they vanish.

The trend has just recently been noticed, and there are five known cases in Oregon, though local journalists are digging deeper to find more.

There is also one this month from Canada, so it looks like it isn't isolated, and now that it's out in the open, hopefully more past instances will be documented, and future ones prevented.

I'll just share two of the instances to keep this OP relatively short, and the links will provide full accounts.

Portland police say Noorah, then 20, was speeding on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard when his car fatally struck high schooler Fallon Smart, who was legally crossing the street in August 2016.

After Noorah’s arrest, the Saudi Consulate retained Mooney to work on his case and cut a $100,000 check to provide him bail, according to court records and prosecutors.

Two weeks before his June 2017 trial, Noorah removed an electronic tracking monitor he was required to wear as a condition of his release, then disappeared, authorities say.

This past July, more than 13 months after Noorah disappeared, the Saudis contacted Homeland Security to inform the agency he was back in their country.

Interesting tid bit about all the ones that happened in Oregon, Mooney was the lawyer for every one of the ones that fled.

Mooney has been hired to handle at least nine criminal cases involving Saudi students across Oregon, including sex abuse and harassment, with most ending with charges dropped or reduced. The rest have disappeared.

Oreg on Live

Here is the case from Canada.

On Jan.2, 2007, Taher Ali Al-Saba didn’t show up for his trial on two counts of sexual assault and one of sexual interference in a Halifax courtroom.

Days later the RCMP’s immigration and passport section was informed by the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Ottawa that the then 19-year-old Al-Saba was back home in Saudi Arabia.

But the police in Halifax still had his passport — raising questions the embassy refused to answer about how he managed to flee prosecution while out on bail.

And so his two alleged victims, one of whom was under 14 years old, never saw Al-Saba, who had been in Halifax for a three-month English course, held to account for his alleged actions.

Link

Unfortunately, I doubt the US government will do much to go against Saudi Arabia, even though their citizens are flagrantly disregarding laws, and by now they probably know they'll be swept away before anything truly bad happens.

a reply to: CriticalStinker


Been going on for a loooooong time. Remember the guy in California who raped his house maid?

Yep, same deal. Took off. Time to for our gutless elected officials to deal with this. These are just cases we know about. Imagine how many are kept hush hush.

a reply to: seeker1963

Time to for our gutless elected officials to deal with this. These are just cases we know about. Imagine how many are kept hush hush.

Exactly.

Many precincts don't have very good search functions, so it will be hard to know for sure.

Also the cynical part of me wonders if we do backdoor deals, unless they are using private jets (entirely possible), how do they do this without their passport? Does their consulate issue a new one? Wouldn't they still be flagged?

There are a lot of questions surrounding this.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

They have five or six Gulfstream "Medevac" aircraft that spend a lot of time going around to different countries.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: CriticalStinker

They have five or six Gulfstream "Medevac" aircraft that spend a lot of time going around to different countries.

So basically civilian extraction should the need arise?

If this has been a trend, I'd be hard pressed to believe none of our government officials have no idea about this.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Most likely. They are set up for medevac flights, but we've long thought there was more. One was at SFO trying to use the Lifeguard callsign to get priority before the tower finally got that there was no patient on board out of them.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Zaphod,

Do I remember correctly that in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack, while all air traffic over the US was grounded, a large number of Saudi nationals were allowed to fly out of the United States?

All Saudi nationals are flight risks, therefore no bail should be set.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well, looking into it, most seem to be private companies operating out of Saudi Arabia.

I'm sure the aircraft have accommodations that could be useful for anyone trying to get quick transport to a specialized hospital (that can afford it).

But Saudi Arabia being Saudi Arabia, probably would have no problem coaxing these aircraft to make a special pickup as long as they're compensated.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Yes and no. They were flown out, but they were one of the first flights out on the 13th, when there was limited airspace use, and before private aircraft were supposed to be flying.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

They can be used as normal transport too. They have regular seats for family members going with the patient, and most people don't look twice at a medevac. We've been thinking rendition flights, but this makes more sense.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

if the Willamette weekly is investigating, then any foul play will be uncovered and exposed.

for a free paper, they have some decent journalists.

a reply to: subfab

Good call, found an article they did on this subject, and it had a new tidbit I found very interesting.

This is in reference to the first example in the OP about the man in Oregon who fled.

It is unclear whether the kingdom's posting bail for Noorah was standard practice. His parents do not appear to be influential: His mother is a kindergarten teacher, according to Deputy Kolberg's report, and his father owns a trailer business. A Saudi consular official Kolberg interviewed at the time said the nation's officials "do not believe Noorah is a flight risk and will be in contact with him 'all the time.'"

WW

This makes it even more curious, I figured these would be high class Saudis and they would have to reimburse the government after the strings were pulled...

So this adds more mystery for me, as I can't wrap my head around why this would be standard practice, surely they knew if they did it too much it would be uncovered.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

simple solution - no bail - for any saudi - they have set thier own precedent

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: CriticalStinker

simple solution - no bail - for any saudi - they have set thier own precedent

Easier said than done.

I believe that is a state issue to be handled, so all states would have to implement that, but then you would have the issue of it getting taken to higher courts for discrimination. I say that without interjecting my opinion, just pointing it out.

Oregon for instance has to post a bail unless the crime is murder.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

So post a 10 million dollar bail.

The bail is paid.

Perp flees.

Give the injured party 9 million as compensation and keep 1 million for the courts.

Not an ideal situation, but it would be a work around.

P

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: CriticalStinker

They have five or six Gulfstream "Medevac" aircraft that spend a lot of time going around to different countries.

I just posted a whole thread about it in the Av Forum