Saudi Arabia denies US accusation of killing Prince Muhammad bin Salman

Saudi Arabia denies US accusation of killing Prince Muhammad bin Salman

An intelligence report released by the newly elected US President Joe Biden's government says Prince Mohammed bin Salman has approved a plan to capture Saudi-born American journalist Jamal Khashoggi, dead or alive.

This is the first time that the United States has publicly named a Saudi prince in the case, while Muhammad bin Salman has denied allegations that he ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry, however, categorically rejected the US intelligence report, calling it "offensive and inaccurate" against the Saudi leadership and saying it did not accept the report.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in an official statement published by the state-run Saudi Al-Inaiya Agency (SPA) that the report contained a collection of misinformation and false results. Rejects any issue that leads to prejudice against the country's leadership, sovereignty and independence of its judiciary.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry in a statement regretted the release of such a report and the erroneous and unjustified findings in it, saying that the report was issued at a time when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemned this heinous crime. And its leadership took the necessary steps to ensure that such an unfortunate incident could not be repeated in the future.

Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist who went into self-imposed exile in the United States and criticized the Saudi government.

It may be recalled that President Biden had contacted King Salman of Saudi Arabia by phone on Thursday. He made the call after reading the report, but there were no reports of any contact with the report.

President Biden intends to "restructure" US relations with Saudi Arabia.

Jamal Khashoggi, an American journalist, and correspondent for the Washington Post, was brutally murdered in 2018 at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has denied any involvement in the killings, which took place inside the Saudi embassy building.

"We have determined that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia authorized the capture or assassination of Saudi journalist Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey," the US National Intelligence Agency said in a statement.

The report cites three reasons why the Crown Prince approved the operation:

Control of decision making in the state since 2017

The direct involvement of a security adviser in the operation

Crown Prince 'supports violent measures to silence dissenting voices abroad'

Earlier, Saudi officials said a team of Saudi agents had been sent to bring Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, where he died as the situation worsened.

A Saudi court has sentenced five men to death for the murder but commuted their sentences to 20 years in prison in September last year.

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The report names those who have been accused or held responsible for Khashoggi's murder. But the report said: "We do not know to what extent the people involved in the plot to harm them go ahead."

In 2019, US Special Envoy Agnes Klamard accused Saudi Arabia of deliberately allowing Khashkji to be killed and rejected the Saudi court's decision as unjust.

What does this mean for Saudi-US relations?

The CIA reported in 2108 that the agency believed that Shahrada Muhammad bin Salman had ordered the assassination, but that the allegations had never been made public by US officials. Was

US President Joe Biden is expected to be tougher on human rights issues in Saudi Arabia than his predecessor, Donald Trump.

The United States is a key ally of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East.

According to the White House, President Joe Biden confirmed the rule of law and the importance of global human rights in the United States by telephone from the Saudi king on Thursday.

Reuters quoted a source as saying that the Biden administration was considering scrapping an arms deal with Saudi Arabia that raised human rights concerns, as well as "defending" future military defenses. Weapons also need to be limited

Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia say Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had no knowledge of the killings. But in 2019, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a statement that because the killings were caused by negligence on the part of Saudi officials, he, as one of the most important members of the Saudi government, would accept responsibility for the killings. The Washington Post, for which Jamal Khashoggi worked, said the CIA's investigation was based on phone calls made by Khalid bin Salman, the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the United States. ۔

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Prince Khalid, who is also the country's deputy defense minister, allegedly telephoned Jamal Khashoggi on the instructions of his brother Muhammad bin Salman and assured him that he would go to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul and would not be told anything. ۔ Prince Khalid refused to talk to Jamal Khashoggi.

In 2019, UN special envoy Agnes Kalamard accused the Saudi state of "deliberately" assassinating Jamal Khashoggi, calling the killing a "fair joke".

Why is this issue being raised now?

The publication of the investigation report into the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi is part of US President Joe Biden's policy of restructuring US relations with Saudi Arabia and he is tougher on Saudi Arabia than former President Donald Trump Have an attitude

The Trump administration rejected legal requirements to release the murder investigation report on the grounds that it had better relations with Saudi Arabia.

White House spokesman John Paskey said Wednesday that President Biden would speak directly to Saudi King Salman and not to his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is, in fact, the current ruler of Saudi Arabia. Are

A White House spokesman said the talks would be the first since Saudi Arabia's 85-year-old King Salman took office.

"We made it clear immediately after coming to power that we would reconsider our relationship with Saudi Arabia," he told reporters.

The new US administration has already made a number of important policy changes. President Biden has ended support for a Saudi-led war against Yemen and cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul

How was Jamal Khashoggi killed?

Jamal Khashoggi, a 59-year-old journalist, was last seen visiting the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018.

According to Saudi officials, Jamal Khashoggi was given an injection to control him and during a physical struggle, he received an overdose of the injection, which resulted in his death. After which his body was dismembered and handed over to some local helpers. No trace of his body has been found since then.

Information released by Turkish intelligence agencies, including some audio material, reveals shocking details.

Khashoggi had previously served as an adviser to the Saudi government, but later fell out of favor with the Saudi ruling family and left the country for the United States in 2017. In the United States, he began writing critical columns for the Washington Post on Muhammad bin Salman's policy.

In his first column, he wrote that he was afraid of being arrested in Saudi Arabia because Muhammad bin Salman was trying to silence all his opponents. In his last column, he sharply criticized Saudi Arabia's attack on Yemen.