In a short report released on Friday, February 26, U.S. intelligence services claim that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has “Validated” the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
“We have come to the conclusion that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Ben Salman, has validated an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi”, writes the direction of the American intelligence in this four-page document, declassified at the request of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, while his predecessor Donald Trump kept it secret.
“The crown prince considered Khashoggi a threat to the kingdom and more broadly supported the use of violent measures if necessary to silence him”, she adds. The White House announced that ” measures “ would be unveiled immediately, without further details.
In a statement released Friday evening, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry rejected the report’s findings, which it called“Unjustified and inaccurate”, and let it be known that “The government of Saudi Arabia (…) cannot accept them under any circumstances”.
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The Changing Versions of Riyadh
Critic of Saudi power after being close to it, Jamal Khashoggi, resident in the United States and columnist for the American daily Washington post, had been assassinated on October 2, 2018 in his country’s consulate in Istanbul by a commando of agents from Saudi Arabia. His body, dismembered on the spot, has never been found.
After denying the assassination, Riyadh ended up saying that it was committed by Saudi agents who acted alone. After an opaque trial in Saudi Arabia, five Saudis were sentenced to death and three sentenced to prison terms – death sentences have since been commuted.
This affair has permanently tarnished the image of the young Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, known as “MBS”, a real strongman of the kingdom quickly designated by Turkish officials as the sponsor of the murder despite Saudi denials.
Visa restrictions for 76 Saudis
Following the publication of the report, the United States announced visa restrictions for 76 Saudis accused of “Threatened dissidents abroad”. These sanctions are part of a new rule, dubbed by the US State Department “Khashoggi ban” (“Khashoggi ban”) aimed at prohibiting entry into the United States of any person accused of attacking, on behalf of the authorities of his country, dissidents or journalists abroad.
Financial sanctions were also taken against a special intervention unit and former Saudi intelligence number two, Ahmed Al-Assiri. General Assiri, an influential military close to “MBS”, had been indicted but acquitted by the Saudi justice. Turkish justice accuses him of being one of the sponsors of the murder.
“Jamal Khashoggi paid with his life to express his opinions”, said the head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, explaining to want “Punish states that threaten and attack journalists or suspected opponents beyond their borders simply because they exercise their fundamental freedoms”.
President Biden, who ruled before his election in November that the Gulf Kingdom should be treated as a state “Pariah” for this case, tried to clear the land by calling King Salman on the phone on Thursday for the first time since arriving at the White House.
If he focused on “Universal human rights” and ” Right wing state “, he also addressed a satisfecit to the monarch for the recent release of several political prisoners. And he mentioned “The United States’ commitment to help Saudi Arabia defend its territory against attacks from pro-Iran groups”, according to the US presidency. Neither Washington nor Riyadh mentioned in their account of this appeal the potentially explosive declassified report for their bilateral relations.
Trump was aware of the report
The United States Senate, which had already had access to the conclusions of the American intelligence services, had also ruled in 2018 that the prince was “Responsible” of murder. But Mike Pompeo, then Secretary of State to Donald Trump, had told him that the CIA report did not contain “No direct element linking the crown prince to the order to kill Jamal Khashoggi”. At the time, the Trump administration issued sanctions against a dozen lower Saudi officials.
And the former Republican president had never wanted to publish this report or publicly blame “MBS”, to preserve the alliance with Riyadh, pillar of his anti-Iran strategy, the world’s largest exporter of crude oil, and big buyer of oil. American weapons. The photos of Mike Pompeo, all smiles, alongside the prince had brought water to the mill of detractors of Trumpist diplomacy, accused of having covered the assassination.
The publication of the report “Is an important step towards transparency, and transparency is, as often, an element to hold those responsible to account”US diplomacy spokesman Ned Price said Thursday. “It is a crime, as I have already said, which shocked the conscience. “
The US government has already warned that Joe Biden is hearing “Recalibrate” his relationship with Riyadh, by speaking only to the king and not to the prince, Donald Trump’s privileged interlocutor, and by emphasizing human rights. He also put an end to American support for the military coalition, led by the Saudis, which intervenes in the war in Yemen, and tries to resume the dialogue with Iran, great regional enemy of Saudi Arabia.
