NEW YORK: President Donald Trump has said it appears that Jamal Khashoggi,the missing Saudi journalist and U.S. resident, is dead, and vowed “severe’consequences for those found to be responsible.
In an interview with The New York Times, Trump said his conclusion wasbased on “intelligence coming from every side.”
“Unless the miracle of all miracles happens, I would acknowledge that he’sdead,” Trump told the Times.
Trump vowed “very severe” consequences for Saudi Arabia if its governmentis found responsible for the journalist’s death. “I mean, it’s bad, badstuff.”
The president did not elaborate on what action his administration couldtake. US lawmakers have suggested a range of steps, from economic sanctionson Saudi Arabia to blocking U.S. weapons sales to the Middle East ally. ButTrump has said he doesn’t want to disrupt the long-standing U.S. alliancewith Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi journalist, who wrote critically of the kingdom and royal familyfor The Washington Post, has been missing since entering the SaudiConsulate on Oct. 2 to obtain paperwork to marry his fiancee. Turkishofficials said he was murdered inside the building, but Saudi officialsdenied that.
Before leaving for Montana for campaign rallies, Trump said he wanted towait for the results of Saudi and Turkish investigations before decidingwhat action the United States should take.
According to the Times, Trump accepted intelligence reports from multiplesources that suggest top Saudi government officials played a role inKhashoggi’s alleged murder.
The Times said Trump stopped short of naming the Saudi crown prince,Mohammed bin Salman, in Khashoggi’s death. He said allegations of theprince’s involvement raised serious questions about the U.S-Saudi allianceand presented a stark challenge for his foreign policy agenda.
“This one has caught the imagination of the world, unfortunately,” Trumpsaid. “It’s not a positive. Not a positive.”
Earlier on Thursday, Trump met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo todiscuss the Khashoggi case. Pompeo had just returned from an emergency tripto Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and he told Trump the United States needs togive the Saudis “a few more days” to investigate Khashoggi’s fate.
“We made clear to them that we take this matter very seriously,” Pompeosaid of his conversations with Saudi officials in Riyadh. “They assured methat they will conduct a complete and thorough investigation.”
UN PROBE DEMANDED
Meanwhile at the United Nations in New York, four leading human rights andpress freedom groups have urged Turkey to call for a UN probe into thepossible murder of journalist Khashoggi in order to prevent a cover-up ofthe alleged crime.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to ProtectJournalists, and Reporters Without Borders said on Thursday that a probeestablished by UN chief Antonio Guterres would shed light on the fate ofthe prominent dissident journalist and prevent a “whitewash”. It waspointed out that the UN had conducted a probe into the murder of formerPakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
“Turkey should enlist the UN to initiate a timely, credible, andtransparent investigation,” Robert Mahoney, deputy executive director ofthe Committee to Protect Journalists, said.
“UN involvement is the best guarantee against a Saudi whitewash or attemptsby other governments to sweep the issue under the carpet to preservelucrative business ties with Riyadh.”
Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, said Khashoggi’sfamily and the rest of the world deserve the full truth about what happenedto him.
“Partial explanations and one-sided investigations by Saudi Arabia, whichis suspected of involvement, aren’t good enough. Only the UN has thecredibility and independence required to expose the masterminds behindKhashoggi’s enforced disappearance and to hold them to account.”
UN RESPONSE
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said secretary-general Guterres remainsvery concerned about Khashoggi’s fate and “has repeatedly called for thetruth to come out in this situation.”
“As a matter of principle, the secretary-general can initiate aninvestigation if all the parties involved request it, or if there’s alegislative mandate from a U.N. body,” Dujarric said. “We’re a littleremoved right now. … I think we need to let the initial investigation playout.” – APP