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The US State Department urged Saudi Arabia to take further steps to ensure the opposition is not harmed, including dismantling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s swift intervention forces.
The US demand to dismantle those forces came a few days after US President Joe Biden revealed a secret intelligence report indicating that bin Salman had ordered the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in Turkey in October 2018.
“We call on Saudi Arabia to dismantle this group, adopt institutional and systemic reforms and establish controls that ensure the complete cessation of activities and operations against opponents,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.
He added: “We have made it clear, in no uncertain terms, what we intend to continue to do, that brutally killing Jamal Khashoggi 28 months ago is still unacceptable in our opinion.”
The Biden administration faces criticism for failing to impose direct sanctions on the Saudi crown prince.
But Price made clear that imposing direct sanctions on bin Salman, “the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia,” could undermine the influence his country has over its important ally in the Middle East.
The spokesman for the US State Department confirmed that there are direct sanctions imposed by Washington on the aides of the Saudi crown prince and the security unit under his command.
Photo posted, fake images
A US intelligence report blamed Mohammed bin Salman for ordering Khashoggi’s assassination.
He said he would not review the names of those who are prevented from entering the United States in the future, and said: “I do not know of any plans for the Saudi crown prince to come to the United States in the near future.”
Biden previously said that his administration seeks to “revise” its position on the decades-long alliance with Saudi Arabia, emphasizing that the United States will stop supporting hostilities in the context of the Saudi war in Yemen.
‘Confidential report’
The intelligence report, which Biden ordered to reveal last Friday after being classified as a “confidential report” during the term of former US President Donald Trump, indicated that Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed in 2018 to kill Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributing journalist. . , after he was lured to the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where his body was strangled and severed, and has yet to be found.
The report also revealed that seven of the 15 people who were part of the assassination team that carried out Khashoggi’s assassination belong to the Rapid Intervention Intelligence Unit, which “only commands Bin Salman’s order.”
A few days ago, the United States imposed sanctions on the Rapid Intervention Forces, which included preventing 76 Saudis from entering US territory and criminalizing any US dealings with them, as part of a new US policy targeting officials who are tightening the screws to dissent.
Photo posted, fake images
The Biden administration said it was in the process of “reviewing” its decades-long alliance with Saudi Arabia.
For its part, the Saudi government condemned the US report, emphasizing what was said before in this regard, which is that the murder of Khashoggi was an operation carried out by dishonest elements, and that the Saudi crown prince has nothing to do with it.
When asked why the US administration did not impose direct sanctions on bin Salman, White House Media Office Director Jennifer Psaki said the US does not impose sanctions on foreign leaders, even though the administration The US is cracking down on top officials in hostile countries on more than one occasion.
But he indicated that Prince Mohammed bin Salman cannot go unpunished forever, saying: “Of course we reserve the right to take any action at any time and in any way we choose.”
“He will be punished immediately.”
Khadija Genghis, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, said that the Saudi crown prince lost his legitimacy following the publication of this US intelligence report.
He added, in a tweet published on his account on the social network Twitter: “It is necessary that the Crown Prince, who ordered the murder of this innocent person, be punished immediately.”
He continued: “The objective of his punishment is not to achieve the justice that we seek to achieve for Jamal, but to prevent similar crimes in the future.”
Cengiz’s tweet was echoed by the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard.
“It is very complicated, from my point of view, to admit someone’s guilt and then tell them that no action will be taken against them,” Callamard said.
He added: “I call on the US government to take action based on the announced results to impose sanctions against Mohammed bin Salman to hold him accountable for what he did.”
