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“We assess that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman, approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” states the executive summary of the report.
“We base this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decision-making in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detachment in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for the use of violent measures. to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi, “the report says.
The Biden administration delivered the long-awaited declassified intelligence report to Congress before its public release on Friday.
Shortly after the report was released, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new “Khashoggi ban” that allows the US to restrict visas for people acting on behalf of a foreign government and directly involved in ” serious extraterritorial activities against dissidents, including those that repress, harass, monitor, threaten or harm journalists, activists or others perceived as dissidents because of their work. “
Blinken said in a statement that the ban, which may also cover family members, would immediately apply to 76 Saudi individuals “who are believed to have been involved in threatening dissidents abroad, including but not limited to the murder of Khashoggi “.
The Treasury Department continued with sanctions against a former Saudi intelligence official, Ahmed Hassan Mohammed al Asiri, as well as against the crown prince’s personal protection detachment, the Rapid Intervention Force, also known as the ‘Tiger Squad’. These officials were appointed under an executive order that “is based on and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets the perpetrators of serious human rights abuses and corruption around the world,” the department said in a statement. .
The report notes bin Salman’s “absolute control” of Saudi intelligence and security operations.
‘Absolute control’
“Since 2017, the Crown Prince has had full control of the Kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations, so it is highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the authorization of the Crown Prince.” the report says.
It says the 15-person Saudi team that arrived in Istanbul in October 2018 when Khashoggi was assassinated included members associated with the Saudi Center for Media Studies and Affairs (CSMARC) at the Royal Court, led by a close adviser to bin Salman, as well as “seven members of Muhammad bin Salman’s elite personal protection detachment, known as the Rapid Intervention Force.”
The report notes that bin Salman viewed Khashoggi as a threat to the Kingdom “and widely supported the use of violent measures if necessary, to silence him.”
The intelligence report says they still have no visibility on when the Saudis decided to harm the father of five children. “Although Saudi officials had previously planned an unspecified operation against Khashoggi, we do not know how far in advance Saudi officials decided to damage him,” he said.
The report also noted that at the time of Khashoggi’s assassination, “the crown prince fostered an environment in which aides feared that if he did not complete assigned tasks, he could fire or arrest them.
‘Anarchy will not stand’
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, said in a statement that he “strongly” supports Khashoggi’s ban announcement and called on Saudi Arabia to “permanently end bullying, harassment and violence against journalists and dissidents to restore the trust of the United States and the world. “
Democratic lawmakers who pushed for years for President Donald Trump to take a tougher position on the Khashoggi case praised the report’s release.
“His courageous journalism cost Jamal his life. For years, however, the last administration protected the Saudi regime from any kind of accountability or scrutiny,” Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said in a statement. “Today, thanks to President Biden and DNI Haines, the United States is sending the message that this anarchy will not continue.”
Representative Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who chairs the House Intelligence Select Committee, said that “the highest levels of the Saudi government, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are guilty of the murder of journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi. , and there is no way to escape that raw uncovered truth. ” Schiff also said in a statement that the report “underscores why Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s repeated claims that he was not aware of or was not involved in this heinous crime are in no way credible.”
Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that “for too long, the United States did not hold Saudi Arabia responsible for the brutal murder of journalist, dissident and Virginia resident Jamal Khashoggi.”
New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, went further, saying that Biden had demonstrated his commitment to transparency and law enforcement “by ending the cover-up of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. by Donald Trump “.
Shortly after Khashoggi’s death in October 2018, the CIA assessed with great confidence that the crown prince had personally ordered the assassination.
But during the Trump administration, US intelligence officials never spoke publicly or presented evidence about the assassination at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and at the time, Trump staunchly defended the country’s young de facto ruler, whom he a It is often referred to as MBS.
Trump told biographer Bob Woodward about the crown prince: “I saved his ass.” Woodward wrote in his book “Rage” that in January 2020, Trump also boasted that “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”
The crown prince has denied ordering the murder of Khashoggi, but has said that he is responsible.
“This was a heinous crime,” he said in an interview with CBS in 2019. “But I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by people who work for the Saudi government.”
On Friday, Callamard called on the United States to fully declassify its findings on the “brutal extrajudicial execution” of Khashoggi, asked Saudi Arabia to reveal how and where Khashoggi’s remains were destroyed, and said that since his remains have yet to be localized, the international crime of enforced disappearance continues. “His loved ones continue to suffer more until Saudi Arabia reveals what was done with his remains,” he said.
Khashoggi’s fiancé, Hatice Cengiz, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an emotional live phone interview: [more] devastated than ever. Now I think he will never come back. “He called on world leaders to act” for justice for Jamal. “
Cengiz was waiting for Khashoggi outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which he entered to obtain the necessary paperwork for his upcoming marriage. It was never seen again.
Kylie Atwood and Ellie Kaufman of CNN in Washington and Madalena Araujo in London contributed to this report.
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