A social-media star critical of Saudi Arabia's government says a Saudi agent tried to kidnap him on US soil, according to The Daily Beast.

Abdulrahman Almutairi, 27, told The Daily Beast that his father and an unidentified Saudi man flew to Los Angeles but were turned back by the FBI and that he thought they were traveling to bring him to Saudi Arabia.

Almutairi used social media to criticize Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the brutal murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Almutairi would join a growing list of Saudi dissidents targeted by the Saudi government, though carrying out such a mission on US soil would mark a new level of Saudi brazenness.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A man thought to be acting on behalf of the Saudi government tried to kidnap a young social-media influencer on US soil, The Daily Beast reported Thursday, citing multiple sources familiar with the episode.

Abdulrahman Almutairi, 27, lives in California and has used social media to criticize the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist assassinated by Saudi agents in Turkey.

The Daily Beast cited unnamed sources as saying said that sometime shortly after Khashoggi's October 2018 killing an "unidentified Saudi man accompanied Almutairi's father on a flight to collect Almutairi against his will and bring him back to Saudi Arabia."

Almutairi told the outlet that if he had been taken back to Saudi Arabia, he most likely would have been killed.

Khashoggi's gruesome death and dismemberment sparked intense global backlash. He was murdered October 2, 2018, at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul after going there to obtain paperwork for his coming wedding.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images

US officials and the UN have said Crown Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, most likely ordered the killing, though he has denied doing so.

Khashoggi had frequently criticized the crown prince and the Saudi government in articles for The Washington Post.

Almutairi told The Daily Beast the Saudi government knew he was "a threat" because of his audience on social media.

Two sources told the outlet that only an FBI intervention stopped the plot to kidnap Almutairi. Almutairi's father and the suspected Saudi agent were apparently denied entry into the country after flying into Los Angeles International Airport. Almutairi said he believed his father was forced to make the trip.

The Saudi crown prince made headlines in the US this week when The Guardian reported that his phone number was believed to have hacked the cellphone of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos through the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp.

The Saudi government has denied the charge, calling it "absurd." But UN investigators on Wednesday threw their weight behind the allegations and said they had received information supporting The Guardian's reporting.

Agnes Callamard and David Kaye — special rapporteurs appointed by the UN — called for an investigation and said the forensic report indicated that a number belonging to Crown Prince Mohammed most likely hacked Bezos' phone through a malicious video file sent via WhatsApp.

Bezos gave his personal cellphone number to the crown prince in April 2018, after the two men attended a dinner together in Los Angeles.

Callamard also told The Daily Beast she believed Almutairi's story was credible.

"There is a pattern of the Saudi authorities, particularly over the last two years, targeting individuals — high-profile people with a big Saudi audience," Callamard told the outlet, "either because they're critical of MBS or the government or not just for what they say but what they don't say, if they're insufficiently supportive."

Saudi Arabia has a pattern of targeting dissidents

The Saudi activist Omar Abdulaziz, who has been making videos critical of Saudi Arabia for years, says two of his brothers and several of his friends have recently been arrested. Screenshot/Youtube

Almutairi would join a growing list of Saudi dissidents targeted by the Saudis over criticism of the kingdom.

Khashoggi's death brought to light Saudi Arabia's widespread campaign to crack down on dissent. Since then several other bloggers, activists, and writers have come forward alleging harassment.

Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi activist in exile in Canada, had his phone targeted with spyware by Saudi agents in June 2018. Abdulaziz had previously told Business Insider his family and friends were arrested or "disappeared" because of his criticism of Saudi Arabia.

"They threatened me a few days ago," Abdulaziz told Business Insider in August 2018. "And they used my brother to blackmail me. He said to me, 'Omar, you have to stop because we're going to be arrested or jailed.' Some of our friends reached out to me, too. But I said I'm not going to stop, I'm going to keep talking."

The Georgetown University fellow Abdullah Alaoudh told "PBS NewsHour" in March that there was nowhere to hide from Saudi Arabia.

"They have no limits," he said. "They can reach you everywhere. They fear every criticism and every different opinion."

The photographer and activist Danah Al-Mayouf told "PBS NewsHour" that she too was targeted by Saudi agents for speaking out.

"Who are these people attacking me all the time who, like, want to basically put me in jail, want to see me homeless in America?" she said.

Almutairi told PBS that after Khashoggi's death he began to post videos on social media critical of the Saudi government. Saudi Arabia then revoked his scholarship at University of San Diego for his activism.

"You didn't only kill him. You chopped him up," he said in a video posted to social media. "Is this a government or a Mafia?"