Sister of Saudi Crown Prince Tried in France over Beating Workman


Sister of Saudi Crown Prince Tried in France over Beating Workman

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A sister of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia went on trial Tuesday in a French court over the beating of a workman who was carrying out repairs in her ultra-luxury Paris apartment.

Hassa bint Salman, sister of Saudi heir Mohammed bin Salman, stands accused of ordering her bodyguard to beat up the workman after he was seen taking a photo inside her home in September 2016, CBS News reported.

The princess, who denies the allegations, suspected the man of planning to sell the photo of her apartment on western Paris' Avenue Foch, long a favorite destination for foreign millionaires in the French capital.

The workman said he was tied up and ordered to kiss the feet of the princess, who is thought to be in her 40s and is lionized in the Saudi state-run media for charity work and women's rights campaigning.

He said he was then beaten up and had his tools confiscated during an ordeal that lasted several hours.

In an account given to the Le Point news magazine in France, the workman reported that the princess shouted: "'Kill him, the dog, he doesn't deserve to live."

A lawyer acting for the bodyguard, Yassine Bouzrou, said, "We hope that the judges will take into account the numerous contradictions and incoherence of the plaintiff. The medical records contradict the version of events of the plaintiff and show that he lied."

The bodyguard has lodged a separate case for defamation against the workman.

The princess, who is subject to an arrest warrant issued in France in March 2018, was not expected to be present on Tuesday. Her whereabouts were unconfirmed, but she was likely back in Saudi Arabia.

She has been charged with complicity in armed violence, complicity in holding someone against their will, and theft.

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