Saudi crown prince approved Khashoggi killing; US to release intel report
- An intelligence report will be released Thursday by the Biden administration that concludes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, three U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.
The public release will mark a significant new chapter in the U.S.- Saudi relationship. Former President Donald Trump’s policy of equivocating about the Saudi state’s role in a brutal murder would be broke by President Joe Biden after this release.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden would communicate with the Saudi King, rather than his son. She said that declassified report was being prepared for release soon. The president confirmed that he had read the report.
Khashoggi was a 59-year-old Saudi citizen working as a Washington Post columnist when he was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istambul on October 2 in 2018. He was killed by a team of intelligence operatives with close ties to the crown prince.
After denying the murder, the Saudi government asserted that Khashoggi was killed by accident as the team tried to forcibly extradite him. The Saudis say that the crown prince is not involved in the murder of the journalist.
Eight men were convicted in a trial called a farce, five got the death penalty.
Agnes Callamard, who investigated the killing for the UN, accused Saudi Arabia of a “deliberate, planned execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law.”
