What's new

Istanbul prosecutor indicts Saudi suspects for Khashoggi killing [Post #85]

Jeff Bezos hack: Saudi Arabia calls claim ‘absurd’

Saudi Arabia has denied that its crown prince was responsible for hacking Amazon boss Jeff Bezos' phone.

A message from a phone number used by the prince has been implicated in the data breach, according to reports.

The kingdom's US embassy said the stories were "absurd" and called for an investigation into them.

It was previously claimed the alleged hack was linked to the murder of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

As well as being the founder of online retail giant Amazon, Mr Bezos owns the Washington Post.

Mr Bezos' phone was hacked after receiving a WhatsApp message sent from Mohammed bin Salman's personal account, according to the UK's Guardian newspaper.

The Financial Times reported that an investigation into the data breach found the billionaire's phone started secretly sharing huge amounts of data after he received an encrypted video file from the prince.

The Twitter account of the kingdom's US embassy issued an outright denial and called for the claims to be investigated.

Amazon did not immediately respond for a request for comment from the BBC.

The reports come after private information about Mr Bezos was leaked to the American tabloid the National Enquirer.

In February 2019 Mr Bezos accused the National Enquirer of "extortion and blackmail" after it published text messages between him and his girlfriend, former Fox television presenter Lauren Sanchez.

A month earlier he and MacKenzie Bezos, his wife of 25 years, announced that they planned to divorce having been separated for a "long period".

This is not the first time the kingdom has been linked to the hacking of Mr Bezos' phone.

In March last year an investigator for the Amazon founder said Saudi Arabia was behind the hack and it had accessed his data.

Gavin de Becker was hired by Mr Bezos to find out how his private messages had been leaked to the National Enquirer.

Mr de Becker linked the hack to the Washington Post's coverage of the murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51171400
 
The United Nations has said that it believes that the Saudi crown prince could be involved in the hacking of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos' mobile phone.

Mr Bezos, the world's richest man, allegedly received a WhatsApp message in 2018 that contained a malicious file, said to be from the personal account of the Saudi Arabian leader Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

The UN said that it is "gravely concerned" by the information it received about the case from Mr Bezos' team, saying the hack is in contravention of "fundamental international human rights".

It also called for an immediate investigation by the US and other authorities into the incident.

UN human rights experts said in a statement: "The information we have received suggests the possible involvement of the crown prince in surveillance of Mr Bezos, in an effort to influence, if not silence, The Washington Post's (which Mr Bezos owns) reporting on Saudi Arabia.

"The allegations reinforce other reporting pointing to a pattern of targeted surveillance of perceived opponents and those of broader strategic importance to the Saudi authorities, including nationals and non-nationals."

The UN report also alleges that Israeli spyware could have been used in the hack, which it says Saudi Arabia has purchased and previously deployed.

Saudi Arabia has called the initial claims "absurd", saying: "We call for an investigation on these claims so that we can have all the facts out."

Speaking to reporters in Davos, Saudi's foreign minister said that its government will investigate, on the grounds it is presented with evidence, adding the idea it hacked Mr Bezos' phone is "silly".

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Mr Bezos were already strained following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, who wrote for the Washington Post.

Mr Khashoggi, who was sharply critical of the crown prince, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October that year.

Early in 2019, Mr Bezos suggested that Saudi Arabia was not happy with the Washington Post's reporting on the killing.

His security chief claims that during that time Saudi Arabia had access to the businessman's phone, and had even taken private messages between him and a television presenter, leading to a tabloid report suggesting the two were dating.

The kingdom denied the claims.

https://news.sky.com/story/saudi-ar...on-boss-jeff-bezos-phone-un-will-say-11914739
 
US lawmakers push for release of intelligence on Khashoggi murder

Washington, DC - Two members of the United States Congress said on Tuesday they will push for the public release of a new US intelligence report on the 2018 murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Tom Malinowski, both Democrats, joined by Khashoggi's fiance Cengiz Hatice, held a news conference on Tuesday to announce plans to force release the US report.

Partially responding to a law passed by Congress, the Trump administration delivered a classified version of what US intelligence agencies know about the murder of Khashoggi to Congress on February 20.

"The law stipulates that publicly, in an unclassified way, you would identify those who carried out, those who participated in, those who ordered this murder or were otherwise complicit in, or responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi," Wyden said.

A provision attached to an annual defence bill, requires a public report from the US intelligence agencies identifying who carried out the Khashoggi murder and who ordered or was otherwise complicit in his killing.

"The law left no ambiguity. The law was very specific about what needs to be public," Wyden said.

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post newspaper, was assassinated in October 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

According to individuals who have seen the US intelligence, intelligence agencies concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had a hand in directing the hit squad in Khashoggi's murder - a conclusion Saudi officials rejected.

Khashoggi "was lured out of the United States by the government of Saudi Arabia with the purpose of murdering and silencing him", said Representative Malinowski.

"This was not just a horrific human rights violation. It was an act of extreme arrogance by the government of Saudi Arabia to think they could get away with murdering somebody who had sought and received shelter in the United States," Malinowski said.

Wyden said he now is invoking procedures within the Senate Intelligence Committee providing for congressional release of the information. A Senate vote would likely be required.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ligence-khashoggi-murder-200303190455930.html
 
Saudis knew how to play this well, untill the storm went away. I mean they made a mockery of this to the world and was laughing while they did it.

I mean getting a fat guy to wear Khashoggi's clothes?? Not to mention government thugs so openly??

I think congress men are doing this so they break out some deal.
 
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Istanbul prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday it had prepared an indictment against 20 suspects over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, including the former deputy head of Saudi Arabia’s general intelligence and a former royal adviser.

Khashoggi’s killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 caused a global uproar, tarnishing the image of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Some Western governments, as well as the CIA, said they believed he had ordered the killing - an accusation Saudi officials have denied.

The prosecutor’s office said the indictment accuses former deputy head of Saudi Arabia’s general intelligence Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani as having “instigated premeditated murder with monstrous intent”.

It accuses 18 others of carrying out the killing of Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and columnist for the Washington Post, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The indictment was based on analysis of mobile phone records of the suspects, records of their entry and exit into Turkey and presence at the consulate, witness statements and analysis of Khashoggi’s phone, laptop and iPad, the statement said.

Saudi Arabia’s media ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In December a Saudi court sentenced five people to death and three to jail over Khashoggi’s murder. But a Saudi prosecutor said there was no evidence connecting Qahtani to the killing and the court dismissed charges against Asiri.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-suspects-for-khashoggi-killing-idUSKBN21C0YF
 
The son of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has released a statement forgiving his killers.

Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, was killed inside the kingdom's consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul in October 2018.

Saudi officials maintain his death was a result of a "rogue operation" and was not state sanctioned.

But their account of events has been doubted internationally, including by some intelligence agencies and the UN.

Khashoggi had been writing for the Washington Post newspaper and living in the US before his death.

After offering changing accounts of his disappearance, Saudi authorities eventually submitted he was killed in a botched operation by a team tasked with getting him to return to the country.

In December 2019, a court sentenced five unnamed men to death for their role in his killing after a secretive trial in Riyadh.

A United Nations special rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, labelled the Saudi trial the "antithesis of justice" and urged an independent investigation.

What has Khashoggi's family said?
The statement was posted to the Twitter account of Salah Khashoggi, one of the late journalist's sons, on Friday.

"In this blessed night of the blessed month [of Ramadan] we remember God's saying: If a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah," his tweet said.

"Therefore we the sons of the Martyr Jamal Khashoggi announce pardoning those who killed our father, seeking reward God almighty."

Death sentences can be commuted in light of a pardon by the victim's family under Islamic law, but it is not clear whether that will apply in this case.

Salah has previously issued statements expressing his confidence in, and support of, the Saudi investigation.

He has also previously criticised "opponents and enemies" of Saudi Arabia who he said had tried to exploit his father's death to undermine the country's leadership.

What happened to Jamal Khashoggi?

The journalist – who had gone into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017 – went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 seeking documents to get married to fiancé Hatice Cengiz.

Investigators believe that he was murdered and dismembered while she waited outside, but his remains have never been recovered.

Saudi officials initially claimed he had left the building alive and their account of events changed several times in the weeks after his disappearance.

Details of his gruesome killing shocked the world, and a subsequent UN report said there was credible evidence that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-level Saudi officials were individually liable.

Saudi crown prince 'should face investigation'

The prince has denied any involvement in the murder, but has said he took "full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52764920
 
Jamal Khashoggi: Fiancée rejects family forgiveness offer to killers

Murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée has said "no-one has the right to pardon his killers" after his son said he forgave them.

Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish citizen, tweeted that the "heinous murder does not have a statue of limitations".

Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018.

Saudi officials say this was a "rogue operation" not sanctioned by the state. This account has been doubted globally.

Among those questioning the official Saudi line were some intelligence agencies and the United Nations.

Khashoggi had been writing for the Washington Post newspaper and living in the US before his death.

After offering changing accounts of his disappearance, Saudi authorities eventually admitted he was killed in a botched operation by a team tasked with getting him to return to the country.

In December 2019, a court sentenced five unnamed men to death for their role in his killing after a secretive trial in Riyadh.

A UN special rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, labelled the Saudi trial the "antithesis of justice" and urged an independent investigation.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jamal was killed inside his country's consulate while getting the docs to complete our marriage. The killers came from Saudi with premeditation to lure, ambush & kill him. Nobody has the right to pardon the killers. We will not pardon the killers nor those who ordered the killing</p>— Hatice Cengiz / خديجة (@mercan_resifi) <a href="https://twitter.com/mercan_resifi/status/1263663437399445504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52764920
 
A Turkish court is set to open the trial of 20 Saudi officials indicted over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The trial will begin at Istanbul province's main court in the district of Caglayan at 10am local time (07:00 GMT) on Friday morning, officials at the Istanbul prosecutor's office told Al Jazeera.

Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Washington Post columnist, was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, after he entered the premises to obtain paperwork for his planned marriage.

Turkish officials say Khashoggi's body was dismembered at the consulate by the killers and his remains are yet to be found.

In March, Turkish prosecutors indicted 20 Saudi nationals over Khashoggi's killing, including two former senior aides to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the kingdom's de facto ruler.

Indictment
According to the indictment, Saudi Arabia's former deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri is accused of establishing a hit team and planning the murder of the journalist, who wrote critically of the Saudi government.

The former royal court and media adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, is accused of instigating and leading the operation by giving orders to the hit team.

Other suspects are mainly the Saudi officers who allegedly took part in the assassination operation. The Turkish prosecutors have already issued arrest warrants for the suspects.

Andrew Gardner, the senior Turkey researcher of UK-based Amnesty International, said there was an expectation the trial would shed light on new evidence and also interrogate the evidence already available.

"This trial and other efforts by the Turkish authorities have been important in keeping the murder in the spotlight, not allowing it to be forgotten," Gardner told Al Jazeera from Istanbul.

"This trial is not replacement for a UN-led international investigation. Hopefully it will be just another stepping stone on the road to ensuring such a probe takes place. And in that sense it is incredibly valuable," he added.

A member of Sri Lankan web journalist association holds a placard during a protest condemning the murder of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi in front of the Saudi Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka October

The assassination of Khashoggi, who was a resident of the United States, prompted a worldwide backlash against Saudi Arabia and caused lasting damage to MBS's image in the international arena.

The CIA reportedly concluded that the crown prince ordered the killing, an accusation denied by the government in Riyadh.

Agnes Callamard, the United Nations's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, also found "credible evidence" that MBS and other senior Saudi officials were liable for the killing, in an investigative report published in June 2019. Callamard is also expected to be present at Friday's trial.

The Saudi government called the assassination a "rogue operation" after repeatedly denying any involvement in the incident for weeks.

Ankara's ties with Riyadh came under intense strain after the killing of the journalist, who was personally known by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan has said the killing was ordered at the "highest levels" of the Saudi government.

In December, a court in Saudi Arabia reportedly sentenced five people to death and three to jail time for the murder after trials that took place behind closed doors.

According to Amnesty's Gardner, a key problem in investigating the murder of Khashoggi has been a lack of cooperation by the Saudi authorities and the absence of the people accused.

"And that really underlines again how much a UN-led international investigation is required. For that, the cooperation of all parties is needed with the Turkish and Saudi authorities sharing all the evidence they collected," he said.

In May, Khashoggi's son Salah said in a statement his family had forgiven his father's killers.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...l-khashoggi-murder-trial-200702105835749.html
 
Twenty Saudi nationals have gone on trial in absentia in Turkey over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

Those being tried include two former top aides to Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi was a vocal critic of the prince. Saudi Arabia carried out a separate trial over the killing that was heavily criticised as incomplete.

The trial in Istanbul follows an international outcry over the murder, which tarnished the prince's reputation.

Turkish prosecutors accuse the former deputy head of Saudi intelligence, Ahmed al-Asiri, and the royal court's media adviser Saud al-Qahtani of having led the operation and instructed a Saudi hit team.

The other 18 defendants are accused of having suffocated Khashoggi, whose remains have not been found. Turkish officials say his body was dismembered and removed to an unknown site.

The journalist, who was resident in the US, had entered the consulate seeking papers for his impending wedding.

His fiancee Hatice Cengiz is attending the trial alongside the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, who has directly linked the crown prince to the killing, AFP news agency reports.

The Saudi authorities initially denied any involvement in the case, but later called it a "rogue operation".

In December a court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death and three to jail for Khashoggi's killing, but the trial was secretive and the defendants were not named.
 
Khashoggi murder trial told oven was lit after killing

A Saudi consulate worker in Istanbul told a Turkish court on Friday he had been asked to light a tandoor oven less than an hour after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the building where he was killed.

Zeki Demir, a local technician who worked for the consulate, was giving evidence on the first day of the trial in absentia of 20 Saudi officials over Khashoggi’s killing, which sparked global outrage and tarnished the image of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.

Demir said he had been called to the consul’s residence after Khashoggi entered the nearby consulate to seek his papers.

“There were five to six people there... They asked me to light up the tandoor (oven). There was an air of panic,” he said.

Khashoggi disappeared after going to the consulate to get papers for his marriage in October 2018. Some Western governments, as well as the CIA, said they believed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the hit - an accusation Saudi officials denied.

Turkish officials have said one theory police pursued was that Khashoggi’s killers may have tried to dispose of his body by burning it after suffocating him and cutting up his corpse.

The indictment accuses two top Saudi officials, former deputy head of Saudi Arabia’s general intelligence Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, of instigating “premeditated murder with monstrous intent”.

It says 18 other defendants were flown to Turkey to kill Khashoggi, a prominent and well-connected journalist who had grown increasingly critical of the crown prince.

The defendants are being tried in absentia and are unlikely ever to be handed over by Saudi Arabia, which has accused Turkey of failing to cooperate with a separate, largely secretive, trial in Riyadh last year.

In December a Saudi court sentenced five people to death and three to jail for the killing, but Khashoggi’s family later said they forgave his murderers, effectively granting them a formal reprieve under Saudi law.

A Saudi prosecutor said at the time there was no evidence connecting Qahtani to the killing and dismissed charges against Asiri.

BASIS FOR FURTHER TRIALS?
According to his testimony in the indictment, Demir reported seeing many skewers of meat and a small barbecue in addition to the oven in the consul’s garden. Marble slabs around the oven appeared to have changed colour as if they had been cleaned with a chemical, the indictment reported him as saying.

Separate witness testimony in the indictment, from the consul’s driver, said the consul had ordered raw kebabs to be bought from a local restaurant.

Demir offered to help with the garage door when a car with darkened windows arrived, but he was told to leave the garden quickly, the indictment said.

Rights campaigners hope that the Istanbul trial will throw a fresh spotlight on the case and reinforce the argument for sanctions against Riyadh or for legal action against the suspects when they travel abroad.

“If the process works, what this trial ...will strengthen is the possibility of universal jurisdiction,” Agnes Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, told Reuters on the eve of the trial.

That could give European countries, for example, the basis to launch a trial if any Saudis linked to the case travelled into their territories, she said.

“Justice in these complex environments is not delivered overnight...but a good process here can build up (evidence for) what can happen in five years, in 10 years, whenever the circumstances are stronger,” Callamard said.

Khashoggi’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who had waited unknowing outside the consulate while he was killed, said she would continue to seek justice “not only in Turkey but everywhere possible”.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-s...oven-was-lit-after-killing-idUKKBN2441CH?il=0
 
A Saudi consulate worker in Istanbul has told a Turkish court he was asked to light an oven less than an hour after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the building where he was killed in 2018.

Zeki Demir, a local technician who worked for the consulate, was giving evidence on Friday, on the first day of the trial in absentia of 20 Saudi officials over Khashoggi's killing which sparked global outrage.

Demir said he had been called to the consul's residence after Khashoggi entered the nearby consulate.

"There were five to six people there ... They asked me to light up the tandoor [oven]. There was an air of panic," said Demir.

Khashoggi disappeared after entering the consulate building in October 2018 to get papers for his upcoming marriage.

Some Western governments, as well as the CIA, said they believed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) ordered the killing - an accusation Saudi officials denied.

Turkish officials have said one theory police pursued was that the killers may have tried to dispose of the body by burning it after suffocating him and cutting up his corpse.

Skewers of meat
According to his testimony in the indictment, Demir reported seeing many skewers of meat and a small barbecue in addition to the oven in the consul's garden.

Marble slabs around the oven appeared to have changed colour as if they had been cleaned with a chemical, the indictment reported him as saying.

Separate witness testimony in the indictment, from the consul's driver, said the consul had ordered raw kebabs to be bought from a local restaurant.

Demir offered to help with the garage door when a car with darkened windows arrived, but he was told to leave the garden quickly, the indictment said.

The indictment accuses two top Saudi officials, former deputy head of Saudi Arabia's general intelligence Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, of instigating "premeditated murder with monstrous intent".

It says 18 other defendants were flown to Turkey to kill Khashoggi, a prominent and well-connected journalist who had grown increasingly critical of the crown prince.

The defendants are being tried in absentia and are unlikely to ever be handed over by Saudi Arabia, which has accused Turkey of failing to cooperate with a separate, largely secretive, trial in Riyadh last year.

In December, a Saudi court sentenced five people to death and three to jail for the killing, but Khashoggi's family later said they forgave his murderers, effectively granting them a formal reprieve under Saudi law.

At the time, a Saudi prosecutor said there was no evidence connecting al-Qahtani to the killing and dismissed charges against al-Asiri.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...e-worker-told-light-oven-200703180203828.html
 
Forty-seven people - including those suspected to have been involved in the deaths of a Saudi journalist and a Russian lawyer - have been included on a new UK sanctions list.

Under a new UK-only regime, those individuals are the first to have been designated for sanctions such as travel bans and asset freezes.

A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 25, 2018.

The suspected killers of Jamal Khashoggi are included on a new UK sanctions list
They include:

20 Saudi nationals involved in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi;
25 Russian nationals involved in the mistreatment and death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered widespread corruption;
two high-ranking Myanmar generals involved in violence against Rohingya people and other ethnic minorities
Two organisations involved in forced labour, torture and murder in North Korea's gulags have also been listed.

Further sanctions are expected to be announced in the coming months.

Announcing the new post-Brexit sanctions regime to MPs, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons: "Today this government and this House sends a very clear message on behalf of the British people.

"Those with blood on their hands, the thugs of despots, the henchman of dictators will not be free to waltz into this country to buy up property on the King's Road, to do their Christmas shopping in Knightsbridge or frankly to siphon dirty money through British banks or other financial institutions."

He said the measures, which will come into force immediately, were "just the latest next step forward in the long struggle against impunity for the worst human rights violations".

Mr Raab also warned that organised criminals will "not be able to launder your blood money in this country".

A picture taken on December 7, 2012, shows snow clad grave of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky with his portrait on the tomb (C) at the Preobrazhenskoye cemetery in Moscow.

It is the first time that the UK has sanctioned people or entities for human rights violations and abuses under a UK-only regime.

The new autonomous regime will allow the UK to work independently with allies such as the US, Canada, Australia and the EU.

"As we forge a dynamic new vision for a truly Global Britain, this government is absolutely committed to the UK being an even stronger force for good in the world," Mr Raab said.

Mr Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi regime, was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

His death brought international condemnation for Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was accused of ordering the killing.

However, he denied this and blamed the journalist's death on a rogue operation by a team of agents.

Mr Magnitsky uncovered large-scale tax fraud in Russia and died in prison after giving evidence against corrupt officials.

He lends his name to the US "Magnitsky Act", which imposes sanctions on human rights abusers.

Mr Raab paid tribute to Mr Magnitsky and told MPs that the lawyer's wife, Natalia, and son, Nikita, were watching the Commons proceedings from the Foreign Office.

The foreign secretary was due to meet Mr Magnitsky's family, as well as his colleague Bill Browder, later on Monday.

A special Foreign Office unit will consider the use of future sanctions, which Mr Raab told MPs was work that had already begun.

Senior Conservative MPs pressed for action on China under the new regime, with Tom Tugendhat - chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee - telling Mr Raab there had been a "remarkable silence on human rights violations in China".

"There is no, as yet, announcement on any sanctions of those who are either exploiting or abusing the Uighur minorities in Xinjiang or repressing democracy activists in Hong Kong," he said.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith called for Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam to be placed on the sanctions list.

Labour's shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said the UK has been a "haven" to those who use corruption, torture and murder to further their own ends.

"Today I hope sends a strong message that the UK is not their home and that their dirty money is not welcome here," she told MPs.

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said: "We strongly support efforts to bring more human rights abusers to justice, but there's a risk with a unilateral approach that sanctions could be selectively imposed by the UK for what are essentially political reasons.

"It is far preferable to have a joined-up, multilateral approach, working through the UN or the EU for example."

https://news.sky.com/story/suspecte...ky-included-on-new-uk-sanctions-list-12022458
 
Saudi prince suspect in Khashoggi murder case: UN official

A UN official has said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a prime suspect in the case of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Execution Agnes Callamard said even though she does not have evidence against the Mohammed bin Salman, but in terms of ordering and inciting the killing, he is a prime suspect.

"Look, I think he is a prime suspect in terms of determining who ordered or who incited the killing. He is in the picture. Personally, I do not have the evidence pointing to him as having ordered the crime,” said Callamard, who is also a noted human rights lawyer.

She said that circumstantial evidence suggests that a crime of that nature could not have taken place without the contribution of MBS.

“I believe that according to the information that was provided more than a year ago, the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] may have this information,“she said.

She noted that Turkey's trial is being held "in absentia" because everyone knew that Saudi Arabia will not allow the defendants to face trial in Turkey.

"Nevertheless, I think it is important. I want to note that the defendants are represented, that they have been assigned state-assigned lawyers," she said.

Callamard described the trial in Turkey fairer than the one conducted in Saudi Arabia.

A Turkish court on July 3 began the trial of the case, listing the 20 Saudi nationals as accused in the 2018 killing of Khashoggi.

'Parody of justice'

Istanbul's Heavy Penal Court No. 11 heard arguments from Khashoggi's fiancée and some witnesses.

Hatice Cengiz, his fiancée, said the Washington Post columnist was deceived into entering the consulate.

"I think it's important because we cannot be held hostage by the Saudi [judicial] process, which presented more than just a few mutations but was in my view, a parody of justice," Callamard told journalists at the UN office in Geneva on Thursday.

She said unlike in Saudi Arabia, trial in Turkey was in public and, the media has access to it.

"People like me can observe it and international NGOs are observing it. The trial at the indictment has been made public. So, let us give it a chance. And let us see what we can learn from the process,” she said.

Callamard said that in a report she presented to the UN Human Rights Council, she has noted that Turkey has investigated the killing of Jamal Khashoggi seriously.

"I welcome the fact that they are now moving into a trial because it means that the international community will be able to assess the work that they have done. I think it is very important for the credibility and the legitimacy of their process, “the UN official said.

She believes it will be naive to think that MBS can be facing judges tomorrow.

"We must remind governments that this is somebody who has blood on his hands or who may be responsible for ordering the killing of Jamal Khashoggi,” she added.

The UN Rapporteur emphasised to keep in mind that justice in such cases is a long-term process and, in the meantime, it must be ensured that the killing of Khashoggi has a political cost.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2254417/saudi-prince-suspect-in-khashoggi-murder-case-un-official
 
RIYADH: A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced eight people convicted in the Jamal Khashoggi murder case.

The Saudi journalist was killed in the Kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The public prosecution said five people received 20 year prison sentences, one was jailed for 10 years and another two were jailed for seven years.

The sentences were imposed after checking with Khashoggi’s family over their right to pardon, a prosecution spokesperson said. The sentences are “final and enforceable”

The rulings mean the Khashoggi case has now been closed both publicly and privately, the statement said.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1730886/saudi-arabia
 
Saudi Arabia overturns death sentences in Jamal Khashoggi killing

A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences over dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, a final ruling in the case that saw the Washington Post columnist killed and dismembered by a Saudi hit squad.

The court handed 20-year sentences to five people and three others were sentenced to between seven to 10 years, state media reported. The eight convicted were not identified.

The verdict comes after Khashoggi’s sons said in May they had “pardoned” the killers, a move condemned as a “parody of justice” by a UN expert.

Khashoggi went missing on October 2, 2018, while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish authorities later revealed he was murdered inside the consulate by a Saudi assassination team. His body has never been found.

The trial was widely criticised by rights groups and an independent UN investigator, who noted no senior officials nor anyone suspected of ordering the killing was found guilty. The independence of the court was also brought into question.

Khalil Jahshan, from the Arab Center in Washington, DC, noted the prosecutor’s office said the announcement “closes the case forever”.

“Most importantly, where is the body of Jamal Khashoggi? With these sentences, I assume they have found out what happened to his body,” Jahshan, a family friend, told Al Jazeera.

“The whole verdict seems to me to have been manipulated. According to legal practice in Saudi Arabia, the family has a right to commute any sentence, and the family has issued such a declaration - most probably under duress. I don’t think it was done freely, knowing the family.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...-jamal-khashoggi-killing-200907133048850.html
 
Abdullah719 said:
Saudi Arabia overturns death sentences in Jamal Khashoggi killing

A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences over dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, a final ruling in the case that saw the Washington Post columnist killed and dismembered by a Saudi hit squad.

The court handed 20-year sentences to five people and three others were sentenced to between seven to 10 years, state media reported. The eight convicted were not identified.

The verdict comes after Khashoggi’s sons said in May they had “pardoned” the killers, a move condemned as a “parody of justice” by a UN expert.

Khashoggi went missing on October 2, 2018, while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish authorities later revealed he was murdered inside the consulate by a Saudi assassination team. His body has never been found.

The trial was widely criticised by rights groups and an independent UN investigator, who noted no senior officials nor anyone suspected of ordering the killing was found guilty. The independence of the court was also brought into question.

Khalil Jahshan, from the Arab Center in Washington, DC, noted the prosecutor’s office said the announcement “closes the case forever”.

“Most importantly, where is the body of Jamal Khashoggi? With these sentences, I assume they have found out what happened to his body,” Jahshan, a family friend, told Al Jazeera.

“The whole verdict seems to me to have been manipulated. According to legal practice in Saudi Arabia, the family has a right to commute any sentence, and the family has issued such a declaration - most probably under duress. I don’t think it was done freely, knowing the family.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...-jamal-khashoggi-killing-200907133048850.html
Click to expand...

Wow! Disappointing.

But, not surprising. MBS probably ordered the hit himself.
 
Saudi Arabia rebuked at UN over Jamal Khashoggi killing, abuses

Dozens of nations condemned Saudi Arabia before the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday over serious violations and demanded accountability for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In a relatively rare rebuke of the oil-rich kingdom before the UN’s top rights body, Denmark’s Ambassador Carsten Staur read a statement on behalf of 29 states demanding justice for Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 by an assassination team.

In the third joint statement to the council targeting Riyadh since the killing, the mainly European countries renewed a call for “transparency and holding all those responsible accountable”.

“We stress the need for full accountability and transparent prosecution of those involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi,” said Germany’s Ambassador Michael Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg.

The Saudi journalist was lured into the Saudi consulate to handle marriage paperwork. Within minutes, the one-time royal insider turned critic was strangled and his body dismembered, according to Turkish and US officials.

A Saudi court this month handed lengthy jail terms to eight unnamed defendants and overturned five death sentences, in a ruling harshly condemned by Khashoggi’s fiancee and UN rights expert Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.

Callamard, who like the CIA had previously linked Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to the killing, decried that top officials who allegedly ordered the murder walked free.

Torture, disappearances
Tuesday’s statement, which was hailed by several human rights groups, also highlighted a wide range of other serious rights violations in Saudi Arabia.

“We remain deeply concerned by reports of torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and detainees being denied access to essential medical treatment and contact with their families,” it said.

Staur said the countries welcomed recent reforms such as restricting flogging and the death penalty against minors, but stressed journalists, activists, and others still face persecution, detention and intimidation.

The statement also echoed the criticism voiced by UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet over the “arbitrary detention” of a number of women human rights activists in the country.

She told the opening of the council session on Monday the detained women simply requested to “be empowered to make their own choices, as equals to men”, insisting “they should be released without delay”.

Saudi Arabia’s representative hit back on Tuesday insisting “the detention of any women has nothing to do with their right to exercise the freedom of expression, but for violations of the standing laws”.

“Their rights are fully respected as detainees,” he said, adding they were guaranteed a fair trial.

Tortured and sexually harassed
Saudi Arabia has detained and put on trial a dozen female activists who long campaigned for the right to drive, which was finally granted in the kingdom two years ago.

Some of the activists allege they were tortured and sexually harassed by interrogators. Staur highlighted that at least five women’s human rights defenders arrested in 2018 remain in detention.

“We reiterate our call for the release of all political detainees and are particularly concerned about the use of the counterterrorism law and other security provisions against individuals peacefully exercising their rights,” he said.

Tuesday’s statement also urged dramatic improvements as Saudi Arabia strives to obtain a seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council.

“Council membership comes with an expectation of upholding the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,” Staur said.

Germany, speaking on behalf of the European Union at the United Nations Human Rights Council, decried Saudi Arabia’s “prolonged detentions of women rights defenders”, including Loujain al-Hathloul.

John Fisher of Human Rights Watch denounced Saudi Arabia’s “brutal targeting of defenders and dissidents” and urged the release of the female activists and “others arbitrarily detained”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...khashoggi-killing-abuses-200915161217960.html
 
Turkey prepares second indictment of six Khashoggi murder suspects: media

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish prosecutors have prepared a second indictment in connection with the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, naming six new Saudi nationals as suspects, broadcaster CNN Turk and other media said on Monday.

Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen at the Saudi consulate on Oct. 2, 2018, where he had gone to obtain documents for his impending wedding. Turkish officials believe his body was dismembered and removed from the building, while his remains have not been found.

Twenty Saudi nationals are already on trial in an Istanbul court for Khashoggi’s killing. CNN Turk said the indictment against the six suspects, including two consulate workers and four other Saudi nationals, was sent to the court to be combined with the main case.

Two of the suspects, a vice consul and an attache, were facing life jail sentences for premeditated murder with monstrous intent, the broadcaster said.

The four others, who CNN Turk said had arrived in Istanbul on Oct. 10-11, 2018, more than a week after the killing, were charged with destroying, concealing or tampering with evidence, which carries a sentence of up to five years in jail.

The Istanbul prosecutor’s office did not immediately provide comment on the media reports.

A Saudi court this month jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years for the murder, four months after Khashoggi’s family forgave his killers and enabled earlier death sentences to be set aside.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...khashoggi-murder-suspects-media-idUSKBN26J1AU
 
Turkish prosecutors have filed a second indictment against six Saudi suspects over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, according to Turkey’s state news agency.

Anadolu news agency said on Monday that two of the suspects were facing charges carrying aggravated life jail sentences. The charges against the other four carry sentences of up to five years in jail.

According to the indictment, the two were consulate staff members and were part of the team that left Turkey after carrying out the murder of the Saudi journalist, Anadolu reported. The other four suspects are reportedly accused of tampering with evidence by going to the crime scene immediately after the murder. They are also not in Turkey.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, where he had gone to obtain documents for his impending wedding to Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.

The 59-year-old’s body was reportedly dismembered and removed from the building and his remains have not been found.

In a separate case launched in July, an Istanbul court began to try in absentia 20 other Saudis over the murder, including two former aides to MBS.

Turkish prosecutors claim Saudi deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri and the royal court’s media adviser Saud al-Qahtani led the operation and gave orders to the Saudi hit team.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from “the highest levels” of the Saudi government but has never directly blamed MBS. The crown prince has denied ordering the killing but said he ultimately bears “full responsibility” as the kingdom’s de facto leader.

In September, a Saudi court overturned death sentences handed down to five defendants after a closed-door trial in Saudi Arabia last year, sentencing them to 20 years in prison instead.

“The Saudi prosecutor performed one more act today in this parody of justice,” Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said at the time. “But these verdicts carry no legal or moral legitimacy.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/28/turkey-indicts-six-more-saudis-over-jamal-khashoggi-murder
 
Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee sues Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman

The fiancee of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is suing Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and two dozen other Saudis in the US courts, accusing them of direct involvement in the dissident’s gruesome killing in Istanbul two years ago.

Hatice Cengiz and Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), a Washington-based rights group set up by Khashoggi shortly before his death, filed a lawsuit in the US district court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday seeking unspecified damages against the kingdom’s de facto leader and 28 “co-conspirators” over the extrajudicial killing.

Khashoggi broke with the Saudi elite in 2017 and moved to the US, where he began to write critically about Saudi government policy as a columnist for the Washington Post.He disappeared while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 to pick up paperwork for his marriage to Cengiz. His remains have never been located or returned.

After a series of shifting explanations, Riyadh eventually admitted the 59-year-old had been killed by Saudi agents in what it says was an extradition operation gone wrong. The CIA and other western intelligence agencies concluded that Prince Mohammed directly ordered Khashoggi’s assassination, although Donald Trump himself defended the crown prince.

Despite the prince’s strenuous denial of any involvement, the journalist’s death has nonetheless sullied his preferred image as a liberal reformer.

While suing Prince Mohammed in a US federal court poses logistical difficulties, Cengiz and Dawn’s co-founders hope the suit can compel US agencies and officials to disclose new information about what happened to Khashoggi.

The lawsuit alleges that the crown prince and his co-conspirators ordered the abduction, torture, murder, dismemberment, and disappearance of the journalist “for the purpose of silencing and preventing him from continuing his efforts in the United States as a voice for democratisation in the Middle East”.

Cengiz is also claiming personal injury and financial losses, which will be determined by a jury at trial.

“I am hopeful that we can achieve truth and justice for Jamal through this lawsuit,” Cengiz said in a statement. “I place my trust in the American civil justice system to give voice to what happened and hold those who did this accountable for their actions.”

Dawn’s executive director, Sarah Leah Whitson, added: “Jamal’s death only strengthens our resolve to continue with our critical work – to promote liberty, human rights, dignity, the rule of law, and justice in the Arab world and throughout the world.”

Despite international outrage over Khashoggi’s killing, efforts at justice to date have been severely lacking.

A secretive Saudi trial – from which UN investigators were barred – sentenced five people to death for “directly participating in the murder” in December 2019, but effectively exonerated the crown prince and his inner circle of involvement. Last month, Saudi state media reported that the five death sentences had been commuted to 20-year jail terms.

A separate Turkish trial of 25 Saudi officials in absentia, which opened in Istanbul in July, has been widely viewed as an opportunity for Ankara to exert pressure on its regional rivals in Riyadh.

Cengiz, Dawn and Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur who authored a 2019 report into Khashoggi’s killing, are among those still calling for an independent international investigation.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...e-sues-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman
 
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court on Tuesday added new defendants to the case against Saudi officials charged over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state media reported, in a trial that Ankara says is needed to reveal the full truth behind the killing.

Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. Turkish officials believe his body was dismembered and removed, while his remains have not been found.

In September a Saudi court jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years over the killing, in a trial that critics said lacked transparency. None of the defendants was named.

At Tuesday’s hearing in Istanbul, only the second session of a trial which opened four months ago, the court accepted a second indictment adding six defendants to the list of 20 Saudi officials already being tried in absentia.

The latest indictment accuses a vice consul and an attache of “premeditated murder with monstrous intent”. The four others, also Saudi nationals, were charged with destroying, concealing or tampering with evidence.

The court heard testimony from Egyptian opposition activist Ayman Noor, a friend of Khashoggi’s, before adjourning the case to March 4 and extending a process which has kept Khashoggi’s killing in the public eye and further strained relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Yasin Aktay, a member of President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party and an acquaintance of Khashoggi, said a just verdict could not have been expected from a Saudi court that was ruling on senior Saudi officials.

“The events actually transpired in Turkey. If we have a concern about justice, there is no other way than to have confidence in Turkish courts,” he said after Tuesday’s hearing.

The first indictment accused two top Saudi officials, former deputy head of Saudi Arabia’s general intelligence Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, of instigating murder.

It said 18 other defendants were flown to Turkey to kill Khashoggi, a prominent and well-connected journalist who had grown increasingly critical of the crown prince.

Noor said in court that Khashoggi called him about 10 days before he came to Turkey, and broke down in tears as he asked Noor to delete an interview Khashoggi had recorded with him.

“Qahtani had called him from Saudi Arabia. He threatened him with very strong language, saying he knew his children and was close to them,” Noor said, according to Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency.

Qahtani, a top aide to Prince Mohammed who was sacked and was later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury over his suspected role, has not faced trial in Saudi Arabia. He did not respond to requests for comment at the time of the Saudi trial.

The CIA and some Western countries believe Prince Mohammed ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny.

Reporters Without Borders said it was disappointed by the court’s rejection of its request to join the case as a civil party, and would continue to closely monitor the case and call for adherence to international standards.
 
Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, has called on the US president-elect, Joe Biden, to release the CIA’s classified report into the Washington Post journalist’s murder once he enters the White House, a move she said would “greatly assist” in uncovering the truth.

The classified intelligence assessment has never been released but media outlets have reported, without providing more details, that it concludes with “medium to high confidence” that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the killing.

Publishing a declassified version of the report, Cengiz and other activists say, would prove Biden is committed to making Saudi Arabia “pay a price for the murder”, as he promised to do during the 2020 campaign.

“I am calling on the president-elect to release the CIA’s assessment and evidence. It will greatly assist in uncovering the truth about who is responsible for Jamal’s murder,” Cengiz said.


Khashoggi fiancee: 'Saudi Arabia can get away with whatever it wants'
Read more
Asked whether it was under consideration, a source familiar with the transition and the president-elect’s thinking said: “The president-elect stands by what he said on the campaign trail regarding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. We know there remains work to do – including to provide the necessary transparency.”

Khashoggi disappeared while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 to pick up paperwork for his marriage to Cengiz. His remains have never been located or returned. Riyadh eventually admitted the 59-year-old had been killed by Saudi agents in what it says was an extradition operation gone wrong, but Prince Mohammed has always denied any involvement or knowledge of the killing.

During the election, Biden emerged as an outspoken critic of Prince Mohammed, saying during a Democratic debate that he would make Saudi Arabia “the pariah they are” if he was elected. He also said the US would stop selling weapons to the kingdom if he won.

Most analysts and Saudi dissidents who live outside the kingdom agree that the US posture toward Saudi will change once Biden enters the White House, in contrast to Donald Trump’s close ties to the crown prince.

But the question now is how far Biden will go – and what specific issues he could influence. While the US could hasten an end to the war in Yemen, pressing the kingdom on domestic human rights abuses could prove to be more challenging.

“I think [releasing the classified report on Khashoggi’s murder] is an easy one for the president to do. The ramifications will be profound,” said Safa Al Ahmad, a Saudi journalist and human rights campaigner who has lived in exile since 2014.

Jamal Khashoggi
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Jamal Khashoggi. According to media reports, the CIA believes with ‘medium to high confidence’ that the Saudi crown prince ordered his death. Photograph: Hasan Jamali/AP
But there is also scepticism that it will happen. First, because it is not clear that Biden will seek to shake up relations with the Saudis in his first weeks in office. Second, because of alleged practical risks associated with releasing the intelligence.

Advertisement

“I think it is highly unlikely. To protect sources and methods it would need to be highly redacted. Such a document would not be very satisfying. To do otherwise would be to reduce significantly our ability to monitor activities,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, who investigated the Khashoggi murder, said she believed the report could be released without compromising CIA sources or methods.

“I, for one, am sick and tired of intelligence always taking precedence over justice,” she said. “So much information is held by the US about the murder of journalists, including the identity of the masterminds, corrupt officials and people who abuse their power. Surely the search for justice, the fight against impunity demand that this information be made made public,” she said.

While Biden may ultimately backtrack on some of his tough talk against the kingdom, Riedel said there would nevertheless be “big change”, especially on arms sales.

“The Saudis have only belatedly begun to realise that the good old days are coming to an end. I think they are trying to figure out what to do and are particularly concerned about Biden reviving the Iran nuclear deal, which they are completely opposed to,” Riedel said.

Riedel said the change in US administrations comes as Prince Mohammed, known as MBS, seemed to be increasingly worried about his own security and paranoid – perhaps with reason – about his position.

“MBS holds almost all of his meetings in the fantasy city of Neom. Well, there is a reason for that. It is the safest place for him to be in the kingdom and I think it is reflection of his very acute concerns. He has alienated an awful lot of Saudis,” Riedel said.

The Guardian has been told that a number of princes in the Bin Jalawi family had recently been placed under house arrest on the orders of the crown prince. While this could not be verified independently, Riedel said that, given that the family was second in prominence only to the Al Saud family, the alleged house arrests were very significant. A US official said such arrests would be in line with the crown prince’s crackdown on any sign of dissent. The Saudi embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment.

The Saudi crown prince has held his closest political rival, the former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, in custody since March, as well as the two adult children of Saad Aljabri, a former intelligence chief who is known for his close ties to the US and is living in exile in Canada.


'Night of the beating': details emerge of Riyadh Ritz-Carlton purge
Read more
While Biden is not known to have had an especially close relationship with Mohammed bin Nayef, whom he met on a trip to Riyadh as late as 2011, analysts say they believe that “MBN’s” continued imprisonment will be among the top human rights issues raised by the Biden administration.

No official explanation has ever been given by the Saudi government as to why Bin Nayef has been detained, but a shifting list of allegations have been used ranging from the coup attempt, addiction, corruption, treason and conspiracy with the Obama administration.

Other cases that will probably cause consternation include the recent move by a Saudi court to sentence Walid Fitaihi, a dual US-Saudi national, to six years in prison following his 2017 arrest, despite appeals by the Trump administration for him to be released. Fitaihi’s family has claimed that he was tortured while in custody and that charges against him relate to tweets he posted that were supportive of the Arab spring as well as his allegedly unauthorised move to obtain US citizenship.

Another political prisoner, the women’s rights campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul, who is also believed to have been tortured in custody, has recently been put on trial in a special terrorism court after being detained for two years without charge, in a case that has prompted criticism from human rights organisations.

Callamard, who is due to take up a new post as head of Amnesty International next year, said she was not “naive enough” to believe that Biden would radically transform the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, but that he would make moves toward accountability.

“The shape, the messaging, it matters. We are talking about a message – it is a small accountability step by the United States and its democratic institutions,” she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...fiancee-urges-joe-biden-to-release-cia-report
 
Jamal Khashoggi: US says Saudi prince approved Khashoggi killing

A US intelligence report has found that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the murder of exiled Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The report released by the Biden administration says the prince approved a plan to either "capture or kill" Khashoggi.

The US announced sanctions on dozens of Saudis but not the prince himself.

Saudi Arabia rejected the report, calling it "negative, false and unacceptable".

Crown Prince Mohammed, who is effectively the kingdom's ruler, has denied any role in the murder.

Khashoggi was killed while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and his body cut up.

The 59-year-old journalist had once been an adviser to the Saudi government and close to the royal family but he fell out of favour and went into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017.

From there, he wrote a monthly column in the Washington Post in which he criticised the policies of Prince Mohammed.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56213528.
 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-khashoggi-cengiz/khashoggis-fiance-says-saudi-crown-prince-should-be-punished-without-delay-idUSKCN2AT1NX

The fiancée of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi called on Monday for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be punished after a U.S. intelligence report found he had approved the killing.

Khashoggi, a U.S. resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington Post criticising Saudi policies, was killed and dismembered by a team linked to the crown prince in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

A U.S. intelligence report on Friday found the prince had approved the killing, and Washington imposed sanctions on some of those involved - but not Prince Mohammed himself. The Saudi government, which has denied any involvement by the crown prince, rejected the report’s findings.

“It is essential that the crown prince... should be punished without delay,” Hatice Cengiz said on Twitter. “If the crown prince is not punished, it will forever signal that the main culprit can get away with murder which will endanger us all and be a stain on our humanity.”

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday imposed a visa ban on some Saudis believed involved in the Khashoggi killing and placed sanctions on others that would freeze their U.S. assets and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.

Asked about criticism of Washington for not sanctioning Prince Mohammed directly, Biden said an announcement would be made on Monday, but did not provide details, while a White House official suggested no new steps were expected.

“Starting with the Biden administration, it is vital for all world leaders to ask themselves if they are prepared to shake hands with a person whose culpability as a murderer has been proven,” Cengiz said.
Click to expand...
 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/17/joe-biden-saudi-arabia-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-jamal-khashoggi

Joe Biden has defended his decision to waive any punishment for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in the murder of a US-based journalist, claiming that acting against the Saudi royal would have been diplomatically unprecedented for the United States.

In an ABC News interview that aired on Wednesday, the US president discussed his administration’s decision to exempt Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from any penalties for the October 2018, killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Last month, the Biden administration released a declassified US intelligence report which concluded that the crown prince authorized the team of Saudi security and intelligence officials that killed Khashoggi.

“We held accountable all the people in that organization – but not the crown prince, because we have never, that I’m aware of … when we have an alliance with a country, gone to the acting head of state and punished that person and ostracized him,” Biden said in his first extended public comments on his administration’s decision.

Biden overstated the US relationship with Saudi Arabia.

The United States has no treaty binding itself with Saudi Arabia, and the kingdom is not one of the Arab countries designated as a major non-Nato ally. The US often refers to the kingdom as a strategic partner because of its oil production, its status as a regional counterbalance to Iran and its counterterrorism cooperation.

The US recognizes that serving heads of state or governments should be granted immunity from prosecution under international law. But Prince Mohammed’s father, King Salman, remains the titular head of state of Saudi Arabia, and the US has never officially granted immunity to an “acting head of state.”

The Biden administration last month released the US intelligence report concluding the prince’s approval of the killing of Khashoggi, who at the time of his killing was living in the United States and writing critically for the Washington Post about the prince’s rights abuses as he consolidated power.

The US has imposed visa restrictions and penalties on the Saudi agents who killed and dismembered Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Biden’s inaction against the prince was a turnabout from his campaign, when Biden spoke scathingly of the royal family and said he wanted to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” for the killing and other abuses.

Rights groups, Saudi dissidents and journalists criticized the decision not to punish the crown prince, saying it signaled impunity for the royal and other authoritarian leaders in the future.

Biden noted that he had approved releasing the intelligence report and also said he had “made it clear” to Saudi Arabia’s aging king “that things were going to change.” King Salman, who is in his mid-80s, has allowed his son broad governing authority.
Click to expand...
 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/23/top-saudi-official-issued-death-threat-against-uns-khashoggi-investigator

A senior Saudi official issued what was perceived to be a death threat against the independent United Nations investigator, Agnès Callamard, after her investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In an interview with the Guardian, the outgoing special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings said that a UN colleague alerted her in January 2020 that a senior Saudi official had twice threatened in a meeting with other senior UN officials in Geneva that month to have Callamard “taken care of” if she was not reined in by the UN.

Asked how the comment was perceived by her Geneva-based colleagues, Callamard said: “A death threat. That was how it was understood.”

Callamard, a French national and human rights expert who will this month take on her new post as secretary general of Amnesty International, was the first official to publicly investigate and publish a detailed report into the 2018 murder of Khashoggi, a prominent former insider who used his column at the Washington Post to write critically about the Saudi government.

Callamard’s 100-page report, published in June 2019, concluded that there was “credible evidence” that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and other senior Saudi officials were liable for the killing, and called the murder an “international crime”. The Biden administration has since released its own unclassified report, which concluded that Prince Mohammed had approved the murder. The Saudi government has denied the killing, which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, was ordered by the future king.

The Guardian independently corroborated Callamard’s account of the January 2020 episode.

The alleged threats were made, she said, at a “high-level” meeting between Geneva-based Saudi diplomats, visiting Saudi officials and UN officials in Geneva. During the exchange, Callamard was told, they criticised her work on the Khashoggi murder, registering their anger about her investigation and her conclusions. The Saudi officials also raised baseless allegations that she had received money from Qatar – a frequent refrain against critics of the Saudi government.

Callamard said one of the visiting senior Saudi officials is then alleged to have said that he had received phone calls from individuals who were prepared to “take care of her”.

When UN officials expressed alarm, other Saudis who were present sought to reassure them that the comment ought not to be taken seriously. The Saudi group then left the room but, Callamard was told, the visiting senior Saudi official stayed behind, and repeated the alleged threat to the remaining UN officials in the room.

Specifically, the visiting Saudi official said he knew people who had offered to “take care of the issue if you don’t”.

“It was reported to me at the time and it was one occasion where the United Nations was actually very strong on that issue. People that were present, and also subsequently, made it clear to the Saudi delegation that this was absolutely inappropriate and that there was an expectation that this should not go further,” Callamard said.

While Callamard has in the past discussed the threats she has faced in her work as a special rapporteur, including by the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, details of the alleged Saudi threat are being revealed in the Guardian for the first time.

The development will probably bolster the view of human rights experts that Saudi Arabia’s government has acted with impunity in the wake of Khashoggi’s 2018 murder, including through arbitrary arrests of critics of the prince, as well as his potential political rivals.

The Saudi government did not respond to emailed requests for comment, which the Guardian sent to the Saudi foreign ministry, the Saudi embassy in London and the Saudi embassy in Washington.

“You know, those threats don’t work on me. Well, I don’t want to call for more threats. But I have to do what I have to do. It didn’t stop me from acting in a way which I think is the right thing to do,” Callamard said.
Click to expand...
 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-khashoggi-un/saudi-official-denies-threat-to-harm-un-khashoggi-investigator-idUSKBN2BH16Y

A senior Saudi official denied on Thursday he had threatened to harm the human rights expert who led the U.N. investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after the United Nations confirmed the expert’s account of the threat.

Agnes Callamard, the U.N. expert on summary killings, has said that a Saudi official threatened at a Jan. 2020 meeting in Geneva that she would be “taken care of” if she was not reined in following her investigation into the journalist’s murder.

She said the remark was interpreted by U.N. officials as a “death threat”. The United Nations confirmed her account on Wednesday, describing the remark as a “threat”.

Neither Callamard nor the United Nations has identified the Saudi official who made the remark. However, the head of Saudi Arabia’s human rights commission, Awwad Alawwad, identified himself as the official on Thursday, while denying he had intended any threat.

“It has come to my attention that Ms. Agnes Callamard ... and some U.N. officials believe I somehow made a veiled threat against her more than a year ago,” Alawwad tweeted.

“While I cannot recall the exact conversations, I never would have desired or threatened any harm upon a U.N.-appointed individual, or anyone for that matter,” he said.

He described himself as an advocate for human rights, and said: “I am disheartened that anything I have said could be interpreted as a threat.”

A source familiar with the matter had earlier told Reuters Alawwad was the one who made the remark.

Callamard led a U.N. investigation into the October 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Khashoggi by Saudi agents at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate. She issued a report in 2019 concluding there was “credible evidence” that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and senior Saudi officials were responsible.

Callamard’s allegation that she was threatened was first reported in the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday. On Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Rupert Colville said: “We confirm that the details in the Guardian story about the threat aimed at Agnes Callamard are accurate.”

The remark was made at a meeting between Saudi and U.N. officials in Geneva. Callamard was not present at the meeting but the U.N. human rights office informed her about the threat and alerted U.N. security and authorities, Colville added.

“A death threat. That was how it was understood,” Callamard told the Guardian. “People that were present, and also subsequently, made it clear to the Saudi delegation that this was absolutely inappropriate.”

She has called for sanctions against Prince Mohammed over the killing of Khashoggi. The prince denies any involvement but has said he bears ultimate responsibility as it happened under his watch.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, which has taken a tougher stance on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record than that of his predecessor Donald Trump, last month released an intelligence report that said Prince Mohammed approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia rejected the findings.

Callamard, whose replacement was announced on Wednesday, is taking up a new post as secretary general of Amnesty International.
Click to expand...
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/top-us-envoy-brought-up-khashoggi-talks-with-saudis-us-official-2021-10-05/

A U.S. delegation led by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan brought up the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in talks with leading Saudi Arabian officials last week, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.

Sullivan, Middle East envoy Brett McGurk and other U.S. officials met in Riyadh on Sept. 28 with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top Saudi officials.

The main point of the talks was to discuss the conflict in Yemen and ways to arrange a ceasefire.

But a senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters about the visit to Washington this week of Israel's national security adviser, Eyal Hulata, said the U.S. delegation also brought up the case of Khashoggi specifically and human rights in general.

Khashoggi, a Saudi-born U.S. resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington Post critical of bin Salman, was killed and dismembered by a team of operatives linked to the prince in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

The Saudi government has denied any involvement by the crown prince, but a U.S. intelligence report concluded in February that bin Salman had approved of an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi.

U.S. President Joe Biden has worked to recalibrate U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia after the friendly ties his predecessor, Donald Trump, had with bin Salman and other Saudi officials.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Saturday, the third anniversary of Khashoggi's death, "We have taken steps to prevent such a reprehensible crime from happening again," including launching a coordinated effort to prevent and respond to any government targeting journalists, activists and dissidents beyond its borders.
Click to expand...
 
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59561881

A Saudi man suspected of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been arrested in France, reports say.

Khaled Aedh Alotaibi was arrested at Charles-de-Gaulle airport on Tuesday, French media report.

He is one of 26 Saudis wanted by Turkey over the journalist's killing.

The 33-year-old former Saudi royal guard was travelling under his own name and was placed in judicial detention, RTL radio said.

Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the government in Riyadh, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

Saudi Arabia said the former Washington Post journalist had been killed in a "rogue operation" by a team of agents sent to persuade him to return to the kingdom.

But Turkish officials said the agents acted on orders from the highest levels of the Saudi government.

The murder caused a global uproar and damaged the image of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He has denied any role.

A Saudi court convicted eight unnamed people over the murder in 2019. Five of them were found guilty of directly participating in the killing and handed death sentences that were later commuted to 20-year prison terms, while three others were jailed for seven to 10 years for covering up the crime.

The Saudi trial was dismissed as "the antithesis of justice" by then-UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard, who concluded that Khashoggi was "the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution".

A 2019 report by Ms Callamard said Saudi prosecutors ordered the arrest of Mr Alotaibi as part of an investigation into Khashoggi's murder but ultimately decided not to charge him.

However, Mr Alotaibi is the subject of a Turkish arrest warrant and is being tried in absentia in Istanbul on a murder charge.

This latest development in the aftermath of the Khashoggi murder will be extremely unwelcome in Riyadh. At the same time, it potentially offers a breakthrough in the unfinished investigation called for by the former UN special rapporteur and human rights groups.

As far as the Saudis are concerned, this story was over long ago when they put on trial a number of minor figures accused of involvement. This, they say, was a rogue operation and all those involved have now been prosecuted.

But Turkey, which bugged the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where the murder took place and so therefore has an intimate knowledge of what went on inside it, has accused more than 20 Saudi officials in absentia.

Western intelligence officials also believe that the most senior instigators of this pre-planned murder have escaped scot-free. If the suspect reportedly arrested in France is transferred to Turkey for trial, it is likely to trigger an intense diplomatic row.
Click to expand...
 
Khashoggi fiancee urges Turkey to 'insist' on justice despite Saudi thaw

Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey must keep insisting on justice for slain Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi even as ties with Saudi Arabia improve, his Turkish fiancee told AFP in an interview.

The grisly 2018 killing of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul worsened already rocky relations between the two Sunni regional powers and rivals, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

"I think Turkey must somehow continue its insistence (for justice) even if it improves its relations," Hatice Cengiz said after attending another hearing in the case at Istanbul's main court this week.

"I don't think it's in anyone's best interest to shut it down completely."

Cengiz was waiting for Khashoggi outside the consulate as the murder took place.

The 59-year-old was a Saudi insider-turned-critic who wrote for The Washington Post and had gone to the consulate to obtain documents for his wedding to Cengiz.

He was dismembered in the consulate and his remains have never been found.

"In order for such a thing to not happen again, in order for this matter to at least reach the best possible level in moral and legal terms, (Turkey) should not abandon this case," said Cengiz.

She has been living in Istanbul since the pandemic and follows the news closely. Today she keeps a low profile in the media, sending out tweets when reaction is needed to a major development in the case.

In November, she wrote an open letter published by The Post, calling for Justin Bieber to cancel his concert in Saudi Arabia.

The assassination sparked international outrage that continues to reverberate, with Western intelligence agencies accusing the kingdom's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of authorising the killing.

The murder had plunged ties between Ankara and Riyadh into a crisis.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the time said the order to kill "came from the highest levels" of the Saudi government though he never named the powerful crown prince.

'Emotions don't rule a country'
Yet Turkey has been seeking to repair ties with regional rivals such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the past two years.

Erdogan said in January he was planning a visit to Riyadh -- which would come at a critical moment for Turkey with inflation surging to a 20-year high of nearly 49 percent.

Asked if she was disappointed, Cengiz said: "If we look at it from the viewpoint of realpolitik, (Turkey's position) did not let me down," adding that countries were "not ruled by emotions" but "mutual interests".

But she added: "Emotionally speaking, of course, I am sad.

"Not because my country has made peace with Saudi Arabia and that this issue is closing, but ultimately, no matter how fiercely we defended it, on a national basis, on a state basis, on a president basis ... now everything is starting to go back to the way it was, as if nothing had happened. I am inevitably disappointed about this."

An Istanbul court put 26 Saudis on trial in absentia -- including two close to the crown prince, but no progress has been made for almost two years.

Cengiz said the legal process was stalled due to Saudi Arabia's failure to cooperate because "they preferred to stay away from the issue completely instead of cooperating".

- 'Where is his body?'-

Saudi Arabia has always insisted that its legal process, carried out behind closed doors, has been completed and there is no need for further arrests.

A Saudi court in 2020 jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years over the killing.

"As his close one, I have the right to ask this question: I've been asking since day one. Where is his body?" Cengiz said.

"As a Muslim, knowing where it is, laying a tombstone even if it is a symbolic one, I think that's the way it should be."

But she hoped the thaw in Turkish-Saudi ties would help shed light on the gruesome murder.

"I think there is always something that can be done, even if relationships get back on track," she said.

"Turkey should continue to ask for information that will contribute positively to the lawsuit process it has opened, even after the relations are improved."

She refuses to give up.

"I did not raise my voice just because state-to-state relations have deteriorated, so that I will not stop speaking up when countries return to normal relations again because what I do is a struggle for rights, a search for justice."

Despite the pessimism, she remains hopeful.

"It is a heartbreaking situation. For the first time in the recent history, especially in the modern period, humanity is witnessing such a thing," she said.

"It is very upsetting for me that such a grave murder is moving towards a lack of a conclusion, but I am hopeful. Even if the mechanisms are insufficient... I think that justice will be served."

https://www.france24.com/en/live-ne...urkey-to-insist-on-justice-despite-saudi-thaw
 
A Turkish court ruled on Thursday to suspend the trial in absentia of 26 Saudis accused in the gruesome killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and for the case to be transferred to Saudi Arabia.

The decision comes despite warnings from human rights groups that turning the case over to the kingdom would lead to a cover-up of the killing which has cast suspicion on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Read: Saudi de facto ruler approved operation that led to Khashoggi's death, says US

It also comes as Turkey, which is in the throes of an economic downturn, has been trying to repair its troubled relationship with Saudi Arabia and an array of other countries in its region. Some media reports have claimed that Riyadh has made improved relations conditional on Turkey dropping the case against the Saudis.


Last week, the prosecutor in the case recommended that the case be transferred to the kingdom, arguing that the trial in Turkey would remain inconclusive. Turkey’s justice minister supported the recommendation, adding that the trial in Turkey would resume if the Turkish court is not satisfied with the outcome of proceedings in the kingdom. It was not clear, however, if Saudi Arabia, which has already put some of the defendants on trial behind a closed door, would open a new trial.

Human rights advocates had urged Turkey not to transfer the case to Saudi Arabia.

“By transferring the case of a murder that was committed on its territory, Turkey will be knowingly and willingly sending the case back into the hands of those who bare its responsibility,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard. “Indeed, the Saudi system has repeatedly failed to cooperate with the Turkish prosecutor and it is clear that justice cannot be delivered by a Saudi court.”

“What has happened to Turkey’s declared commitment that justice must prevail for this gruesome murder and that this case would never become a pawn in political calculations and interest?” she asked.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said: “Given the complete lack of judicial independence in Saudi Arabia, the role of the Saudi government in Khashoggi’s killing, its past attempts at obstructing justice, and a criminal justice system that fails to satisfy basic standards of fairness, chances of a fair trial for the Khashoggi case in Saudi Arabia are close to nil.”

Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for the Washington Post, was killed on October 2, 2018, at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone for an appointment to collect documents required for him to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz.

Turkish officials allege that Khashoggi, who wrote critically about the crown prince, was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw inside the consulate by a team of Saudi agents sent to Istanbul. The group included a forensic doctor, intelligence and security officers and individuals who worked for the crown prince’s office. Khashoggi’s remains have not been found.
 
UAE detains U.S. lawyer for Khashoggi on money laundering charges

United Arab Emirates authorities have detained Asim Ghafoor, a U.S. citizen and civil rights attorney who previously served as a lawyer for slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, said U.S.-based rights group DAWN of whose board Ghafoor is a member.

A UAE government official confirmed Ghafoor was arrested while transiting through Dubai International Airport on July 14 on charges related to an in absentia conviction for money laundering pursuant to evidence heard by Emirati courts.

A senior U.S. administration official had told reporters earlier on Saturday that the United States was aware, but could not say whether President Joe Biden would raise the issue in bilateral talks with the UAE president on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Saudi Arabia.

"There's no indication that it has anything to do with the Khashoggi issue," the official added.

Saudi journalist Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in 2018 at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate in an operation that U.S. intelligence says Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved. The prince denies involvement.

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said in a statement on Friday that Ghafoor, a civil rights attorney based in Virginia, was en route to Istanbul to attend a family wedding.

The Emirati official, responding to a Reuters request for comment, said the UAE has granted a request by the U.S. embassy to conduct a consular visit and that since the original trial was held in absentia, Ghafoor is permitted to request a retrial.

"A request has been received and granted, resulting in the case being reopened, and the relevant legal proceedings are underway," the official said.

It said the conviction was obtained "without due process" and called for his immediate release.

Rights groups say the UAE has jailed hundreds of activists, academics and lawyers in unfair trails on broad charges.

The UAE has rejected such accusations as baseless and says it is committed to human rights under the country's charters.

Biden had said he would raise human rights during his trip to the region which concluded on Saturday.

Reuters
 
The US has determined that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has immunity from a lawsuit over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the government in Riyadh, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

US intelligence has said it believes Prince Mohammed ordered the killing.

But in court filings, the US State department said he has immunity due to his new role as Saudi prime minister.

"The doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law," said Justice Department lawyers in a document filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The 37-year-old was handed the role in September and denies any role in the killing of Mr Khashoggi.

But the Biden administration was keen to emphasise that the ruling was not a determination of innocence.

"This is a legal determination made by the State Department under longstanding and well-established principles of customary international law," a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a written statement. "It has nothing to do with the merits of the case."

Mr Khashoggi's ex-fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, wrote on Twitter that "Jamal died again today" with the ruling.

Saudi Arabia said the former Washington Post journalist had been killed in a "rogue operation" by a team of agents sent to persuade him to return to the kingdom.

However, US officials said the CIA had concluded, "with a medium to high degree of certainty", that MBS - as the prince is known - was complicit.

The murder caused a global uproar and damaged the image of Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia's de facto rule.

BBC
 
Biden administration says Saudi prince has immunity in Khashoggi killing lawsuit
Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in October 2018 by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul

WASHINGTON DC:
The Biden administration ruled on Thursday that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has immunity from a lawsuit over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, drawing immediate condemnation from the slain journalist's former fiancee.

Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in October 2018 by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, an operation which U.S. intelligence believed was ordered by Prince Mohammed, who has been the kingdom's de facto ruler for several years.

"Jamal died again today," Khashoggi's ex-fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, said on Twitter minutes after the news became public. She added later: "We thought maybe there would be a light to justice from #USA But again, money came first. This is a world that Jamal doesn’t know about and me..!"

A spokesperson for the Saudi consulate in Washington could not be reached for comment on Thursday evening, after business hours.

“This is a legal determination made by the State Department under longstanding and well-established principles of customary international law," a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a written statement. "It has nothing to do with the merits of the case."

The spokesperson referred further questions to the State and Justice Departments.

In a document filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Justice Department attorneys wrote that "the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law."

Justice Department lawyers said that the executive branch of U.S. government, referring to the Biden Administration, had "determined that defendant bin Salman, as the sitting head of a foreign government, enjoys head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts as a result of that office."

In late September, Saudi King Salman named Prince Mohammed prime minister in a royal decree which a Saudi official said was in line with responsibilities that the crown prince was already exercising.

"The Royal Order leaves no doubt that the Crown Prince is entitled to status-based immunity," lawyers for the prince said in an Oct. 3 petition requesting a federal district court in Washington dismiss the case, citing other cases where the United States has recognised immunity for a foreign head of state.

Biden was criticized for fist-bumping the crown prince on a visit to Saudi Arabia in July to discuss energy and security issues. The White House said Biden had told Prince Mohammed that he considered him responsible for Khashoggi's killing.

The prince, known by his initials MbS, has denied ordering Khashoggi's killing but acknowledged later that it took place "under my watch."

Khashoggi had criticized the crown prince's policies in Washington Post columns. He had traveled to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain papers he needed to marry Cengiz, a Turkish citizen.

"It's beyond ironic that President Biden has single-handedly assured MBS can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable. Not even the Trump administration did this," Sarah Lee Whitson, a spokeswoman for Democracy for the Arab World Now, said in a written statement.

Express Tribune
 
Jamal Khashoggi: Wife of murdered journalist wins US political asylum

The wife of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, has been granted political asylum in the US.

Mr Khashoggi died in October 2018, and US intelligence has said it believes Saudi Arabia was behind the killing.

Hanan Elatr, Mr Khashoggi's wife, feared for her safety and came to the US in August 2020 to apply for asylum.

The BBC reviewed documents showing she was granted indefinite asylum status on 28 November.

"We did win," Ms Elatr told the BBC, emotion catching in her throat. "Yes, they took Jamal's life and they destroyed my life, but we did win."

It has been more than three years since Ms Elatr first applied for political asylum in the US. She has maintained that her life would be in danger if she returned to Egypt, where she is from, or the United Arab Emirates - her home of more than 25 years.

The former Emirates flight attendant came to the US and lived afraid for her safety in Maryland for many months, abandoning her job and life, her attorney Randa Fahmy said in an interview.

Eventually she was able to obtain a work permit in October 2021 to begin her new life in the US. Ms Elatr now has a job and apartment - though she struggles to make ends meet.

"It's been a lengthy process," Ms Fahmy said.

Despite the time it took, Ms Elatr expressed gratitude to President Joe Biden and his administration for "opening the door for me". She said she is "relieved from feeling scared".

Ms Elatr finally interviewed with US immigration services in March in a process that her attorney described as "pretty traumatic" for the level of detail and repetition that it required.

They expected to receive a response in 60 to 90 days, but Ms Fahmy believes that the application process was held up by ongoing negotiations between the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The two women enlisted the help of various members of Congress, but called congressman Don Beyer and Senator Tim Kaine their "champions on Capitol Hill".

Both lawmakers told the BBC that they were happy to help Ms Elatr and were relieved to hear the news. Mr Beyer said it was "the clearest case for political asylum imaginable".

"After all that she and her family have been through, it is good to see them granted this recognition and the measure of security that will come with it," Mr Beyer said in a statement. "I will continue to support Mrs Khashoggi as she seeks accountability for her husband's murder, a terrible injustice which I will not forget."

Ms Elatr and her attorney said that obtaining political asylum will serve as a springboard "to take our case further to bring justice for Jamal".

They are seeking compensation from Saudi Arabia for Mr Khashoggi's death and are working to obtain the journalist's electronic devices from the Turkish government.

They also intend to pursue legal action against Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, which has faced widespread allegations that its Pegasus software has been sold to and used by authoritarian governments across the world.

The BBC has reached out to NSO Group for comment, but it has previously denied wrongdoing.

"We're determined to get justice for Jamal and peace and justice for Hanan," Ms Fahmy said.
​
www.bbc.com

Jamal Khashoggi: Wife of murdered journalist wins US political asylum

Hanan Elatr, the widow of the journalist murdered in a Saudi consulate, came to the US in August 2020.
www.bbc.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Devadwal
Robust India-Saudi Arabia strategic partnership under PM Narendra Modi
Replies
23
Views
810
Theanonymousone
T
Hitman
Saudi Arabia allows foreigners to invest in firms with property in Mecca, Medina
Replies
31
Views
1K
Farhan The Man
F
BouncerGuy
Grand Slam of cricket: Secret plan hatched for new Saudi-backed T20 league
2 3
Replies
168
Views
6K
The Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle
FearlessRoar
Saudi Arabia's AlBaik expected to launch in Pakistan
2
Replies
84
Views
3K
Major
Major
FearlessRoar
Saudi oil giant Aramco launches first branded gas station in Pakistan
Replies
4
Views
422
BouncerGuy
BouncerGuy
Back
Top