RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Thursday called for the death penalty against fivepeople accused of murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom’sIstanbul consulate, but absolved the crown prince of any blame.
Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor and critic of Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman, was injected with “a large amount of a drug resultingin an overdose that led to his death” and his body was then dismembered andtransferred out of the consulate, the public prosecutor said in a statement.
It was the first Saudi confirmation of how the journalist died, but theprosecutor’s spokesperson Shaalan al-Shaalan denied Crown Prince Mohammedbin Salman had any knowledge of the killing.
The prosecutor has requested the death penalty for the five people who “arecharged with ordering and committing the crime and for the appropriatesentences for the other indicted individuals”, Shaalan said.
He did not identify any of the suspects by name.
Saudi Arabia’s allies and critics alike are pushing for an independentinvestigation into the murder, with Turkey at their helm.But Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir Thursday dismissed Ankara’srequest for an international probe.
“This is now a legal case and is thus in the hands of Saudi Arabia’sjudiciary,” Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh.
In a swift reaction to the prosecutor’s revelations, the United States, astaunch ally of Saudi Arabia, announced it had sanctioned 17 Saudiofficials “involved in the abhorrent killing”.
They included Saud Al-Qahtani and Maher Mutreb, key aides to the powerfulprince, and Mohammed Alotaibi, who was the consul general in the Istanbulconsulate when Khashoggi was murdered.
Qahtani, Prince Mohammed’s long-time right-hand man, “was part of theplanning and execution of the operation” to kill Khashoggi, the US Treasurysaid.
Khashoggi, 59, was last seen entering the consulate on October 2 to obtainpaperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz.
The journalist went into self-imposed exile in the United States in 2017after falling out with the crown prince, the powerful heir to the Saudithrone.
Shalaan said Khashoggi’s body parts were handed over to an agent outsidethe consulate grounds.
Also implicated in the murder is the once-powerful deputy chief of SaudiArabia’s intelligence, General Ahmed al-Assiri, who gave the order torepatriate Khashoggi, and an unnamed “head of the negotiating team” whoflew to the Istanbul consulate and ordered his murder, Shaalan said.
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The prosecution said it now has 21 people in custody, 11 of whom have beenindicted with investigations to continue into the others.Assiri and Qahtani, who were both close to royal circles, were fired in theaftermath of the Khashoggi murder.
Qahtani has been banned from travel and is now under investigation, theprosecutor’s office said, but did not reveal the fate of Assiri.Saudi authorities, including the public prosecutor and foreign minister,denied Thursday that Prince Mohammed had any knowledge of the killing.
“This is clearly an attempt to display to the world that a semblance ofaccountability is being applied in Riyadh, but the question that has beenasked will continue to be asked,” said H.A. Hellyer, senior nonresidentfellow at the Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute inLondon.
“Who gave the actual order to these senior officials?”
Khashoggi’s killing has plunged the world’s top oil exporter into its worstdiplomatic crisis since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on theUnited States, in which most of the hijackers were identified as Saudinationals.
On Thursday, the Saudi prosecutor’s office said the kingdom had requestedthat Turkey sign a “special cooperation mechanism” on a probe into themurder.
But Turkey said the Saudi response to the killing was “insufficient” andinsisted the murder had been “premeditated.”“We find all those steps positive, but insufficient,” said Turkish ForeignMinister Mevlut Cavusogluo.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said the order tomurder Khashoggi came from the upper echelons of the Saudi government.
Ankara has also shared voice recordings linked to the murder with a numberof countries including Saudi Arabia, the United States and its Westernallies.
The global fallout over the Khashoggi murder has tainted the image of33-year-old Prince Mohammed — the de facto ruler and heir apparent widelyknown as MBS — despite the persistent Saudi denials that he was involved.
“The prosecutor’s statement further reinforces that there is no riskwhatsoever to MBS’s position,” said Quentin de Pimodan, a consultant at theGreece-based Research Institute for European and American Studies.
“The Saudis will continue to push the narrative that these advisors‘betrayed the prince’s trust’.” – APP/AFP
