Twitter suspends account of former adviser to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince

Twitter has suspended or removed thousands of accounts linked to governments in the Middle East, including one belonging to a former Saudi royal court adviser suspected of being involved in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

The social network said Friday that it had permanently suspended the account of Saud al-Qahtani, a former top aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who at one point had more than 1.35 million followers on Twitter.

Twitter said the account, which had been dormant for a year, was suspended due to “violations of our platform manipulation policies.”

Al-Qahtani was dismissed in 2018 amid allegations that he was involved in the murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist. In November, prosecutors said he was under investigation and was barred from leaving the kingdom.

The former royal adviser has also been accused by activists of being involved in the alleged torture of a jailed women’s rights activist in the country.

CNN has attempted to reach the Saudi government for comment. When asked for more details on why the account had been suspended, a Twitter spokesperson referred CNN to the platform’s