The Crown Prince approved the Khashoggi operation in Istanbul



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The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. (Image: Keystone)

International

Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman approved the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 according to estimates by US intelligence services.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation to capture or kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018, according to US intelligence agencies. This emerges from a report that the office of the new US intelligence coordinator, Avril Haines, published in Washington on Friday.

Khashoggi was assassinated on October 2, 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a special command from Riyadh. There is still no trace of his body. Khashoggi lived in the US state of Virginia and wrote columns for the Washington Post, which often contained criticism of the Saudi monarchy.

The report claims that the US secret services based their assessment, among other things, on the fact that the Crown Prince has had “absolute control over the kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations” since 2017. Therefore, it is ” very unlikely “that government officials would have carried out such an operation without the Crown Prince’s permission. The direct involvement of a top Bin Salman adviser in the operation and his support for violent measures to silence dissidents abroad also speak in favor of such approval.

The new president of the United States, Joe Biden, called the Saudi King Salman for the first time on Thursday. Then the White House announced that Biden had told the King that he would work to “make bilateral relations as strong and transparent as possible.” The President of the United States had reaffirmed the importance that the United States attaches to human rights and the rule of law. The ad did not mention Khashoggi’s murder.

The leadership of the Islamic-conservative kingdom was exposed to harsh criticism after Khashoggi’s disappearance. She only admitted the murder under international pressure. The traces led to the closest circle of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denied ordering the murder himself.

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