News Leak Centre

No Fear No Favour

The US Accuses Saudi Crown Prince of Approving Operation to Capture or Kill Jamal Khashoggi

Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal

The United States on Friday for the first time publicly accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of approving the operation of capturing or killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The United States released an intelligence report which stated that Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

The report is based on the intelligence gathered by the CIA and other agencies since the killings of Khashoggi.

The report also stated that given Prince Mohammed’s influence it was highly unlikely that the 2018 murder could have happened without his green light.

The US on Friday also announced sanctions and visa band targeting Saudi Arabian Citizens over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Prince Mohammed who wrote for the Washington Post was disappeared after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.

Jamal had gone to the consulate to get a document that he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz who was waiting outside.

However, Turkish officials said that Khashoggi was strangled and his body was cut into pieces by a 15 man Saudi group inside the Kingdom’s mission.

His remains are yet to be found.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia have completely rejected the negative, false and unacceptable assessment of the US intelligence report.

“The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the …. assessment in the report about the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

“The crime was committed by a group of individuals that have transgressed all pertinent regulations… and the kingdom’s leadership took the necessary steps to ensure that such a tragedy never takes place again,” the foreign ministry statement added.

A Saudi Arabian court also jailed eight people last year for between seven and 20 years over the murder of Khashoggi after his family forgave his killers and enabled death sentences are set aside.

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