‘Consequences’ for Saudis if they killed dissident, says Hunt
FOREIGN Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned Saudi Arabia yesterday it faced “consequences” if its agents are found to have murdered dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Mr Hunt said the Government remains “extremely concerned” about the fate of the missing 59-year-old.
He has not been seen since visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month to collect documents ahead of marrying his Turkish fiancee.
Authorities in Turkey claim recordings prove the outspoken critic of the Saudi government was interrogated, tortured, killed and dismembered inside the consulate by a hit squad flown in from Riyadh.
Turkish police are said to have expanded their search for a body to a forest and farmland near Istanbul. Employees of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul were said to be giving evidence to Turkish prosecutors. Saudi Arabia, ruled by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, has denied killing Mr Khashoggi.
Last night a source close to the investigation said Turkish intelligence officials tried to set up roadblocks to stop the team believed to have killed the Saudi journalist from leaving Istanbul.
Mr Hunt said if the murder had taken place it would be “totally inconsistent” with British values. He said: “If the stories...are true, and if you are asking me whether that will have consequences for the relationship with Saudi Arabia, then yes, of course it will. What is alleged to have happened is totally inconsistent with our values and what we believe in. Not just the brutality – if it happened – but also the fact that he was a journalist. Those things are completely unacceptable to the United Kingdom.”
But, amid calls to rethink Britain’s arms sales and security alliance with Saudi, he said any UK response would be “considered” and take the “strategic relationship” between the two nations into account. “We have to recognise that they share intelligence with us that helps keep people safe on the streets of Britain,” he said, referring to information the Saudis provide on terrorism.
Mr Hunt’s comments came as US President Donald Trump said it “certainly looks” as though Mr Khashoggi was dead and warned of “very severe consequences” if he was murdered.