There is a disturbing account in The Oregonian/OregonLive that raises a long-standing issue that few people want to talk about in Washington: the long record of Saudi Arabia in violating our laws and helping felons flee the country before trial or sentencing. The article addresses just a few cases but it is a problem nationwide as Saudi Arabian nationals kill or injure Americans only to have the government help the culprits post bond and then flee. For example, Abdulrahman Ali Al-Plaies was accused of killing a 79-year-old woman in the center of Xenia, Ohio, a small Ohio town. Just days before trial, the Saudis allegedly sent a military officer to whisk him away.
The article discussed several cases The Oregonian/OregonLive recently uncovered in Oregon. From rape to murder, American victims have been shoved aside by Saudi officials who are accused of systematically violating U.S. laws to guarantee that Saudi citizens remain above the law. Other countries have complained of similar cases, particularly involving Saudi royal family members accused of crimes from murder to rape to unpaid bills.
Al-Plaises was 27 years old and a Central State University student when he plowed his car into the back of an Oldsmobile Cutlass at 60 mph, thrusting it 110 feet. The Buick then T-boned a pickup carrying a mother and her two small children.
A grand jury indicted him on charges of involuntary manslaughter and his bail was set at $50,000. However, the bail was mysteriously cut in half and he claimed that his passport could not be turned in because he lost it.
Al-Plaies pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He claimed he had been on a religious fast for two weeks before the crash, drinking only water.
His defense attorney told The Oregonian/OregonLive, “I think there were decisions made in this case above my pay grade. All you got to do is read the news and you’ll see decisions are made between us and the Saudi government with bigger implications than what happened in our little county in Ohio.”
The implications for the grieving family of course could not be “bigger.” Their loss was simply dismissed and forgotten in the wake of another Saudi fleeing justice with the help of our close Middle Eastern ally.
https://whowhatwhy.org/2019/03/11/us-wont-pursue-saudi-national-wanted-in-manslaughter-case/
“Despite pressure from lawmakers and justice advocates, the Trump administration will not pursue a Saudi national who fled Oregon in 2017 to avoid standing trial for a hit-and-run that killed a 15-year-old girl.
“The fugitive, Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, was reportedly aided in his escape by the Saudi government while out on bail, which was posted by the Kingdom.
“In a letter addressed to US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the State Department confirmed that Noorah was back in Saudi Arabia and said its options for justice were “limited.””
Compounding the matter, there is no extradition treaty between SA and the US
https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/71600.pdf
http://www.wsfa.com/story/22665099/countries-with-no-extradition-treaty-with-us/
Need to get that wall built!
This is very true. Saudi playboys, especially royals, are infamous for creating carnage here and then having Daddy get them home. They get into car crashes, commit rapes, get in fights, drink and drive…you name it. Their country is repressive, and ours is a hedonistic wonderland to them. They play but don’t pay. They don’t respect their own laws, let alone ours, or they wouldn’t drink in the first place. There are certain rules you have to follow if a girl needs to interact with a rich Saudi national here on vacation. Obviously, not all Saudi men are a menace, but they do indeed have a well-earned, bad reputation.
Just to get some idea of the menace that some of these guys are on the road, there is a popular bored playboy game in Saudi Arabia in which they get a crew together to race cars. They tip the car on 2 wheels, with guys hanging out the side that’s in the air to balance it like a lunatic version of the catamaran.
The irresponsibility and total lack of empathy for those they harm is a symptom of being pampered to excess growing up, as well as a total disconnect with the female gender as human beings.
Didn’t George W get the Bin Ladin family out of the U.S.?
SSSH, Karen doesn’t want to know that.
Didn’t George W get the Bin Ladin family out of the U.S.?
If only you had a computer with a search engine you could have answered your own question in about 30 seconds. Of course that’s assuming you were not being rhetorical. Although I’m skeptical on Snopes, the underlying basis for their rating on this answer appears reasonable. And Shhh! Don’t tell YNOT.
Secret flights whisked bin Laden family members and Saudi nationals out of the U.S. immediately after September 11 while a general ban on air travel was still in effect, and before the FBI had any opportunity to question any of the passengers.
Rating
False
Here’s the link:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/flights-of-fancy/
Yes. And then the half of Americans who believe there was a wider and possibly treasonous conspiracy behind 9/11 are told we’re nuts to even raise the matter.
If we actually cared about crimes committed by Saudis there is the matter of the 9/11 attack….and the facts that our government has worked so hard to conceal.
oh they may have had test runs before that too. read “Others Unknown” by Stephen Jones– he was MacVeigh’s defense lawyer. i wonder!
What facts we ‘worked to conceal’?
The overall effect: The criminals are gone. They would be done to come back. We should be glad they go.
Is that the new standard punishment for rape, murder, pedophilia, DUI, and vehicular manslaughter? Just go home and live a life of excess, and it’s all good? How is our country protecting our citizens and legal residents? Why not just let Charles Manson escape to Mexico then?
Well, he is dead so he is not as mobile as he used to be.
Threats and bribery to achieve onerous ends is nothing new.
There is a disturbing account in The Oregonian/OregonLive that raises a long-standing issue that few people want to talk about in Washington:
I’m curious to know why Turley left out the fact this specific incident took place in 1988? https://www.mlive.com/news/us-world/2019/01/saudi-students-who-vanish-before-trial-span-states-decades.html/ Surely he could have cited an incident that happened within this decade, or at least this century for a problem that is presented as ubiquitous.
Central State is a small and academically weak HBCU. Why in the world would you travel half-way around the world to attend that school?
Again, you’re refusing to acknowledge the culpability of lawyers in this situation. You have in this case a prosecutor asleep at the switch and a judge asleep at the switch. There is no way in our system to hold either accountable for their failures, so the failures and abuses by prosecutors and judges go on and on.
The man should have been clapped in jail until his case was disposed of; if you fancy that’s unfair, why not ask yourself why the court system takes so bloody long to accomplish fairly straightforward tasks. If the charges prove to be largely unsustainable, you can indemnify him according to standard formulae.
you’re refusing to acknowledge the culpability of lawyers in this situation.
The attorney representing the defendant is quoted in the article as saying his only regret is that he didn’t ask for a higher fee from the Saudi Government. The judge that mysteriously cut the bail amount in half without notifying the prosecutor’s office has no recollection of the case.
The Saudi are not our friends. They are the single largest importer of our arms sales. They buy more than the next 5 countries combined. This is why our government ignores their crimes.
https://infographic.statista.com/normal/chartoftheday_12205_the_usa_s_biggest_arms_export_partners_n.jpg
Don’t be stupid. Annual arms purchases by the Saudi Government are enumerated in nine digits. You can’t buy the U.S. Government for sums of that magnitude.
Doesn’t surprise me at all. The US should have ended diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia in 2001.
Why?
i think they are creeps… but I bet a far worser crew of creeps would take over if house of saud were overthrown. this is the perennial situation in the middle east and suggest we should let them to handle a lot of their own business and steer clear of the dramas