Jamal Khashoggi: Biden will take no action against MBS after intelligence report finds Saudi leader responsible for murder of journalist
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The Biden administration will take no direct action against Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman following the release of a US intelligence assessment that concluded he approved the operation to murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The long awaited report was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday, more than two years after dissident Khashoggi was murdered by a hit squad at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
“We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the report noted.
The assessment was based on “the Crown Prince’s control of decision making in the Kingdom since 2017, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi.”
In response to the killing, the State Department announced sanctions against 76 Saudi individuals who have engaged in threatening dissidents overseas, including some who were believed to have been involved in Khashoggi’s murder.
The report was compiled soon after the brutal killing of Khashoggi in October 2018 , but had not been released by the Trump administration due to fears it would impact hundreds of millions of dollars in arms sales to the Kingdom.
Donald Trump cited the economic benefits of the US relationship with Saudi Arabia as a reason for not acting on the killing of Khashoggi, who worked as a columnist for the Washington Post.
“I only say they spend $400 to $450 billion over a period of time, all money, all jobs, buying equipment,” Mr Trump said in 2019 when asked for his response to a United Nations report into the killing. “I’m not like a fool that says, ‘We don’t want to do business with them.’ And by the way, if they don’t do business with us, you know what they do? They’ll do business with the Russians or with the Chinese.”
The decision to declassify the intelligence report is an early indication that Joe Biden’s administration is likely to take a tougher approach with the long-time US ally. Mr Biden announced earlier this month that the US would halt its support for a Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen.
The release of the report was followed by an announcement by the US State Department of new measures which it claimed would “reinforce the world’s condemnation of that crime, and to push back against governments that reach beyond their borders to threaten and attack journalists and perceived dissidents for exercising their fundamental freedoms.”
Secretary of state Antony Blinken said the so-called “Khashoggi Ban” would impose visa restrictions on individuals “who, acting on behalf of a foreign government, are believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities, including those that suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm journalists, activists, or other persons perceived to be dissidents for their work, or who engage in such activities with respect to the families or other close associates of such persons.”
“As a matter of safety for all within our borders, perpetrators targeting perceived dissidents on behalf of any foreign government should not be permitted to reach American soil,” Mr Blinken added in a statement.
The State Department is also said to be considering a halt to the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia.
But the Biden administration’s long awaited response to the murder was conspicuous for the absence of any specific sanctions targeting bin Salman, whom the ODNI report found to have ordered the operation. During his presidential campaign, Mr Biden had promised to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” for the murder.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday that the administration has been clear that it will “recalibrate our relationship” with Saudi Arabia.
The ODNI, a cabinet-level agency that coordinates between US intelligence arms, said the killing could not have been carried out without his approval.
“Since 2017, the Crown Prince has had absolute control of the Kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince’s authorization,” it said.
Mr Khashoggi was working as a columnist for the Washington Post when he was killed by a hit squad made which included members of bin Salman’s security team. he 59-year-old had gone to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul to collect documents needed to obtain a license to marry his fiancé Hatice Cengiz.
Ms Cengiz waited outside while Mr Khashoggi entered the building to receive the documents. Inside, he was set upon by the hit squad, who strangled him and dismembered his body. His remains have never been found.
A Turkish bug planted at the consulate reportedly captured the sound of a forensic saw, operated by a Saudi colonel who was also a forensics expert, dismembering Khashoggi's body within an hour of his entering the building.
The prince said in 2019 he took "full responsibility" for the killing since it happened on his watch, but denied ordering it.
Saudi officials have said Khashoggi's killing was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials. Saudi Arabian courts last year announced they had sentenced eight Saudi nationals to prison in Khashoggi's killing. They were not identified.
— With agencies
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