Saudi officials admit to targeting journalist
FORENSICS EXPERT, BODY DOUBLE SENT TO CONSULATE AHEAD OF KHASHOGGI KILLING
Facing global outrage over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi officials are now acknowledging that the journalist was targeted inside the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey and a body double was on hand to aid in a coverup — the latest twist in the kingdom’s evolving efforts to explain Khashoggi’s death.
This new version of events — which was described by two Saudi officials — comes three weeks after the kingdom said Khashoggi left the consulate on his own and insisted Turkish claims he was killed by an assassination squad were unfounded.
Now Saudi officials say they did in fact send a team to Turkey that included a forensics expert and a member whose job was to dress in the 59-year-old writer’s clothes and pretend to be him — though they still insist that his death was an accident.
This account attempts to distance Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the killing, even though officials linked to the 33-year-old ruler have been implicated. But the fact the Saudis are acknowledging some aspects of the account provided by Turkish authorities suggests that the kingdom is feeling intense global pressure, including from President Donald Trump and members of Congress, some of whom have called for cutting off arms shipments and imposing sanctions.
There was no way to corroborate the Saudi account, which paints the suspects as rogue operators. It also contradicts many observers who believe the complex scheme that led to Khashoggi’s death could not have occurred without the knowledge of Crown Prince Mohammed, who essentially runs the kingdom.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the 18 suspects detained in Saudi Arabia by authorities there to be tried in Turkish courts and rejected the idea that the men acted on their own.
“To blame such an incident on a handful of security and intelligence members would not satisfy us or the international community,” Erdogan said in a speech to ruling party lawmakers in parliament.
He said it was a “savage murder,” planned in advance, and called for those who ordered it to be held to account.
Also on Tuesday, the Crown Prince and King Salman met with Khashoggi’s son, Salah, who is banned from leaving Saudi Arabia.
The meeting produced a striking photograph of the younger Khashoggi shaking hands and looking into the eyes of the prince.
Erdogan later made his own call to another of Khashoggi’s sons, Abdullah, vowing to do “everything necessary to solve the murder.”
Meanwhile, the crisis continues to cause headaches for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
There are new calls for Canada to scrap a $15 billion deal to sell armoured cars to the kingdom, but the Liberals are reluctant to do that.
“One of the issues we are faced with is a contract that was signed by the previous government that makes it extremely difficult for us to withdraw from that contract without significant financial penalties on Canadians,” Trudeau said.
“We are working very hard and looking at our options, because as we said, this situation, if indeed the stories that are widely being reported turn out to the case, then Canadians expect us to act.”
He suggested Canadians would be landed with a $1 billion bill if the contract was cancelled.
It also wasn’t immediately clear who would actually receive the money: Saudi Arabia or General Dynamics Land Systems, whose plant in London, Ont., is building the light-armoured vehicles, or LAVs.
The Prime Minister’s Office referred questions to Global Affairs Canada, where a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland declined to comment because of commercial confidentiality.
Opposition parties have been calling on the government to take a firm stand on Saudi Arabia, though they have been divided on the best approach. While the NDP wants to the arms deal cancelled, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer sidestepped questions Tuesday about scrapping the contract and instead urged the government to wean Canada off Saudi oil imports.
Human-rights groups and others critical of the deal renewed their calls for the government to pull back the curtain on the agreement, which has remained largely shrouded in secrecy since it was signed by the Harper Conservatives in 2014 and subsequently upheld by the Trudeau Liberals.
However, Trudeau indicated in an interview with the CBC on Tuesday morning that the terms of the “difficult” contract prevented the government from speaking at length about the deal, which was facilitated by the Canadian Commercial Corporation.
The corporation also negotiated a secret deal to sell military helicopters to the Philippines last year, which was later scuttled over concerns the aircraft could be used to commit humanrights violations.
University of Montreal law professor Daniel Turp, who is trying to challenge the Saudi deal in court on the basis that it violates Canada’s human-rights obligations, said there was “something very unhealthy that this is a Crown corporation that is hiding information from the public.”