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In October 2018, journalist and critic of the Saudi regime Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and disappeared. According to Turkish investigators, he was killed and dismembered inside the consulate. They claim that Saudi Arabia sent 15 people to Istanbul to assassinate Khashoggi. However, the body has never been found.
A year later, a Saudi court convicted eight people of participating in the murder. The US intelligence service, the CIA, has accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who effectively controls Saudi Arabia, of personally ordering the assassination.
USA: s underrättelserapport, which has been classified for a long time, was published on Friday. According to the report, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation in Turkey.
“We believe that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the report said in a statement.
Jamal Khashoggi.
Photo: Hansmusa / Alamy Stock Photo
The conclusion is based on the Crown Prince’s control over decision-making in Saudi Arabia and that one of his advisers and people from his own guard force were involved. The Crown Prince’s support for violent methods of silencing dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi, is also included in the assessment.
According to the report, a 15-man team, led by a close adviser to the Crown Prince, arrived in Istanbul in October 2018. Seven members of his personal guard force were also part of the team. The Crown Prince is said to have created a “work climate” in which his aides feared being fired or imprisoned if they failed at a task.
“Since 2017, the Crown Prince has had complete control over the kingdom’s security and intelligence apparatus, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out such an operation without the approval of the Crown Prince,” the report said.
After the report was published Chancellor Antony Blinken announced that the United States is introducing a “Khashoggi ban.” It includes visa restrictions for 76 Saudis believed to have been involved in Khashoggi’s murder; now they are being transferred from the United States.
“The Khashoggi ban allows the Foreign Ministry to impose visa restrictions on people acting on behalf of a foreign government, who are believed to have been directly involved in serious activities against dissidents abroad, including those who oppress, harass , they monitor, threaten or harm journalists, activists or others, people who are perceived as dissidents, “he said in a statement.
Family members of these individuals may also be subject to restrictions.
At the same time, the Finance Ministry is imposing sanctions on the Royal Guard and Ahmed al-Asiri, a former deputy head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service, for their role in the assassination, Reuters reports.
UN murder investigators, Agnès Callamard, asks the United States to take the initiative to guarantee justice for the murder. He also wants the United States to impose sanctions on the Crown Prince targeting his personal assets and international commitment.
Callamard is also asking the Saudi government to reveal the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s remains.
“I urge the government of Saudi Arabia to reveal whether his remains were destroyed on the spot or how and where they were disposed of,” he wrote on Facebook.
Khashoggi’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz writes #justlyforjamal on Twitter.
Read more:
The United States publishes a report on Khashoggi’s murder, which is expected to point to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
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