A Saudi princess accused of ordering her bodyguard to assault a workman has gone on trial in Paris in absentia.

Princess Hassa bint Salman – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s sister – faces charges of complicity to violence with a weapon and complicity to kidnap.

Her bodyguard, who is alleged to have made the man kiss her feet as part of the 2016 attack, is also on trial.

Both Princess Hassa, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant, and the bodyguard deny wrongdoing.

Neither the princess nor her accuser were in court, AFP reported. But the bodyguard, Rani Saïdi, was there on Tuesday, surrounded by his family.

Her team has said she is the victim of false allegations.

“The princess is a caring, humble, approachable and cultured woman,” her lawyer Emmanuel Moyne told Reuters news agency before the trial began.

What are the allegations?

Egyptian workman Ashraf Eid told police that, in September 2016, he was working in the Saudi king’s apartment on the exclusive Avenue Foch in Paris when he went to take pictures of the bathroom on his mobile phone so that he could remember where items were placed before he started.

However, the princess suspected him of wanting to sell images he had taken of her in the mirror and called the guard, French reports say. Mr Moyne said Saudi law “prohibits taking any image of the princess”. Read more

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A Saudi princess accused of ordering her bodyguard to assault a workman has gone on trial in Paris in absentia.

A Saudi princess accused of ordering her bodyguard to assault a workman has gone on trial in Paris in absentia.

A Saudi princess accused of ordering her bodyguard to assault a workman has gone on trial in Paris in absentia.