Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved a secret plan to silence dissenters more than a year before the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The powerful prince had ordered surveillance, kidnapping, silencing and torturing of nationals who criticised the crown. US officials who read the classified intelligence reports called it the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group.
At least some of the clandestine missions were carried out by members of the team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi in October at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, suggesting his murder was part of a wider campaign against dissidents.
Khashoggi, a Washignton Post columnist's murder, generated global outrage including an order from US senators for President Donald Trump to designate and punish those responsible. He did not comply.
The senators, briefed by the heads of US intelligence agencies, said they were convinced that Prince Mohammed was responsible for the Khashoggi killing. Saudi Arabia has stressed the prince was not involved. They later blamed rogue agents for Khashoggi's death.
Some of the group's activities included forcibly repatriating Saudis from other Arab countries and detaining and abusing prisoners in palaces belonging to the Crown Prince and his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
A spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington said that the Kingdom "takes any allegations of ill treatment of defendants awaiting trial or prisoners serving their sentences very seriously".
Saudi laws prohibit torture and hold accountable those involved in such abuses of power, he added.
The Rapid Intervention Group appears to have been involved in the detention and abuse of prominent women's rights activists arrested last year.
The intervention team was so busy that in June its leader asked a top advisor to Prince Mohammed whether he would give them bonuses for Eid al-Fitr, a major holiday at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Saudi officials declined to confirm or deny that such a team existed
The Rapid Intervention Group was authorized by Prince Mohammed and overseen by Saud al-Qahtani.
US intelligence reports did not specify how involved Prince Mohammed was with the group's work, but said that the operatives saw Qahtani as a "conduit" to the prince, the report said.
Qahtani has been sacked over Khashoggi's murder but Saudi authorities have not said if was among those charged.
Five of the accused face the death penalty.
