Khashoggi Death: Saudi Govt Issues Charges But Exonerate Crown Prince

RIYADH — The Saudi gov­ernment exonerated the coun­try’s powerful crown prince of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Thursday as death-penal­ty charges were announced against five men and the US placed sanctions on 17 suspect­ed of involvement.

Riyadh prosecutors an­nounced indictments against 11 people and said a total of 21 individuals were in cus­tody in connection with the killing, which outraged Saudi allies and placed massive pressure on Crown Prince Mo­hammed bin Salman to come clean about the murder.

The Saudi prosecutor said execution would be recom­mended for five principals who “are charged with ordering and committing the crime.”

But prosecutor spokesman Shaalan al-Shaalan rejected allegations that Prince Mo­hammed, whose father is King Salman, directed the murder.

The prince had “no knowledge” of Khashoggi’s killing, Shaalan said.

And Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told journalists in Riyadh that the prince was not involved.

“Absolutely. The crown prince has nothing to do with this issue,” Jubeir said.

Prince’s aides blacklisted

Khashoggi, who lived in the United States and wrote for The Washington Post and other inter­national media, was killed and dis­membered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2.

The murder was carried out by a team of Saudis who travelled to Istanbul for that purpose, accord­ing to Turkish and US assessments, and was allegedly directed and led by close aides of the prince.

The Saudi prosecutor, in the country’s newest account of what happened, said agents were dispatched to Istanbul to bring Khashoggi home “by means of persuasion” but ended up kill­ing him with “a large amount of a drug resulting in an overdose.”

The Saudi prosecutor did not name any of those indicted in the murder. But the US sanctions announced on Thursday includ­ed two top aides of Prince Mo­hammed, Saud Al-Qahtani and Maher Mutreb, and Mohammed Alotaibi, who was the consul general in the Istanbul consulate when Khashoggi was murdered.

The US Treasury said Qahtani, Prince Mohammed’s long-time right-hand man, “was part of the planning and execution of the operation” to kill Khashoggi.

The US statement made no mention of the crown prince.

Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said that her country “welcomes the US ac­tion” and that Ottawa “is active­ly considering” following suit.

Crisis for crown prince

Khashoggi’s killing has plunged the world’s top oil exporter into its worst diplo­matic crisis since the Septem­ber 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, in which most of the hijackers were identified as Saudi nationals.

The criticism has shaken the 33-year-old Prince Mo­hammed, who has moved with brash confidence since becom­ing heir to the throne in June 2017 in a shakeup undertaken by King Salman to secure pow­er for his wing of the sprawl­ing Saudi royal family.

The country’s allies and crit­ics alike are pushing for an in­dependent investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, with Tur­key at their helm pointing a fin­ger directly at Prince Moham­med, widely known as “MBS”.

But Jubeir on Thursday dismissed the calls for an international probe.

“This is now a legal case and is thus in the hands of Saudi Arabia’s judiciary,” he said.

On Thursday, the Saudi pros­ecutor’s office said the king­dom had requested that Tur­key sign a “special cooperation mechanism” on a probe.

But Turkey said the Saudi re­sponse fell short and insisted the murder had been “premeditated.”

“We find all those steps positive, but insufficient,” said Turkish For­eign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

In Washington State Depart­ment spokeswoman Heather Nauert called the Saudi an­nouncement a “good first step,” while denying there was any link with the Treasury announcement of sanctions just two hours later.

“We regard the announce­ment that they made as a good first step, it’s a step in the right direction,” Nauert told reporters.

“It is an initial investigation finding. It is important that those steps continue to be tak­en toward full accountability.”

US legislators: sanctions not enough

But senior US politicians and the Washington Post said the moves on Thursday were far from adequate.

“In announcing actions against ‘those responsible’ for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, the Saudi and US governments are asking the world to take their word for it that this settles the matter,” said Post publisher and chief executive Fred Ryan.

“From the start, the Saudi ‘in­vestigation’ has been an effort to shield those ultimately responsible for this heinous crime when there is every reason to believe that it was authorized at the highest lev­els of the Saudi government.”

“The US government should be demanding an independent investigation that gets to the truth about the murder of an in­nocent journalist.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen said the US sanctions on the 17 Saudis were not enough.

“Everyone who had a hand in Khashoggi’s brutal murder should be subject to strict sanc­tions, and, as I review this list, it’s clear that it is not comprehen­sive,” she said in a statement.

“There must be further sanc­tions on Saudi leadership who ordered this assassination. We must send a clear message that the United States stands un­equivocally on the side of human rights and democratic values.”

Khashoggi Murder: U.S. Sanctions Saudis

The U.S. sanc­tioned 17 Saudi officials over the death of U.S.-based jour­nalist Jamal Khashoggi, as the White House seeks to quell international outrage over his killing while preserving its relationship with a key ally in the Middle East.

The announcement came just hours after Saudi Ara­bia charged 11 people for the murder, saying it will seek the death penalty for five who confessed. Among the officials sanctioned by the U.S. was Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before King Salman re­moved him after the killing.

The sanctions, which will limit access to the U.S. financial system and freeze the assets of the officials, come shortly after the Trump administration an­nounced plans to end air refu­eling flights for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen. The conflict has fu­eled the world’s worst humani­tarian disaster, according to the United Nations.

“The Saudi officials we are sanctioning were involved in the abhorrent killing of Jamal Khashoggi,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a state­ment. “These individuals who targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States must face consequences for their actions. The Government of Saudi Arabia must take ap­propriate steps to end any tar­geting of political dissidents or journalists.”

The Treasury Department said that al-Qahtani took part in the the planning and execu­tion of the operation targeting Khashoggi. Maher Mutreb, an aide to the crown prince who was captured on a surveillance camera entering the Saudi con­sulate in Istanbul on the day Khashoggi was killed there, also was sanctioned. The Trea­sury said in its statement that Mutreb “coordinated and ex­ecuted” the operation.

The financial penalties an­nounced by the U.S. aren’t ex­pected to directly affect the crown prince, who critics say must have given at least tacit approval for some of his aides to plan Khashoggi’s murder. The action may revive criticism that President Donald Trump hasn’t responded forcefully enough to the killing.

Asked whether al-Qahtani had any role in the murder, Saudi Arabia’s deputy attor­ney general Shalaan Shalaan said that a royal adviser had a coordinating role and had pro­vided information. The adviser believed that Khashoggi had been co-opted by organiza­tions and countries hostile to the kingdom “and his presence abroad represented a danger to national security,” the prosecu­tor said.

The former adviser was now under investigation, the pros­ecutor said, declining to reveal the names of any of those fac­ing charges. The prosecution “demands the death penalty for those who ordered and ex­ecuted the killing and they’re five people,” he said.

The moves come as Trump is relying on Saudi Arabia as a central pillar of his strategy to contain Iran, including by pro­viding enough oil to ensure new U.S. sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic don’t cause a spike in crude prices.

Trump previously vowed “very severe” consequences over the killing, and said he would work with members of Congress to develop an ef­fective response. But in recent weeks, he’s also said he didn’t believe Saudi leaders had be­trayed him in the case and re­iterated he believes it would be foolish for the U.S. to cancel arms deals with the country because it might hurt U.S. jobs.

Khashoggi was a critic of the crown prince’s policies and a U.S. resident who wrote for the Washington Post. He was mur­dered during an Oct. 2 visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was retrieving docu­ments for his upcoming wed­ding. After initially denying that Khashoggi had died inside the facility, Saudi officials conceded that he had been killed during an interrogation and announced the firing of five top officials

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