We’ve got to take a stand against the Saudis. There has got to be punishment
Rifkind calls for hard line on prince’s brutal regime
Former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind has led new calls for sanctions against Saudi Arabia following claims a dissident journalist was murdered and dismembered in one of its foreign embassies.
There has been growing international fury over claims Jamal Khashoggi was killed while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The Washington Post columnist had been living in America and was an outspoken critic of the ultra-conservative Middle Eastern regime, which he f led last year.
Rifkind, who was Scottish secretary from 1986 to 1990, has been one of the highest profile figures to call for trade restrictions to be imposed on the Saudis.
He said: “If the current Crown Prince remains in power for the indefinite future, then in the first instance the United Kingdom must work with the United States, France and other countries to see if there can be a combined response, a punishment of some kind, of sanctions of some kind.
“If the United States was not willing to take part, then the United Kingdom has to consider action that it will take in its own name.”
Turkish security sources are reported to have confirmed the existence of an audio and a video recording of Khashoggi’s visit to the consulate on October 2.
It is claimed he was beaten, killed and dismembered after attending a meeting he thought was do discuss a marriage certificate.
The case highlights yet again serious concerns over the barbaric Saudi regime and UK and other western powers’ relations with it.
The Sunday Mail has reported extensively on Scottish Government support for arms giant Raytheon in Glenrothes, who sell missiles to Saudi Arabia which have been implicated in the slaughter of innocent children in Yemen. “We have revealed how hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ cash has been handed over despite the company manufacturing guidance kits for Paveway missiles used by the regime in a war with its impoverished neighbour. BAE Systems, also a huge Scots employer, also has extensive military contracts with Saudi Arabia worth billions of pounds. Khashoggi’s disappearance has heaped pressure on politcal and business leaders both at home and abroad to reconsider their relations with the Saudis.
Tory Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat has said that if the Saudi Arabian government murdered Khashoggi , then there could be a downgrading of diplomatic relations and a boycott by UK ministers.
He suggested international trade secretary Liam Fox should boycott the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, later this month if their government’s involvement in Khashoggi going missing was proved.
Tugendhat said: “The first thing for us
to do is to get together with our allies, the United States, the Europeans and others, to discuss very seriously what’s going on.
“The idea that we can treat Saudi as a normal state if it practises state-sponsored murder outside its borders is simply not true.
“We may be talking about downg rading diplomat i c relations, we may be talking about restricting support for certain areas”.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has said he wants to know the truth about what happened and expressed fears such disappearances would become a “new normal”.
He told the International Monetary Fund meeting in Bali: “We need to have a strong request for the truth to be clear.
“We need to know exactly what has happened and we need to know exactly who is responsible and, of course, when we see the multiplication of this kind of situation, I think we need to find ways in which accountability is also demanded.”
Financial Times editor Lionel Barber announced the newspaper would be pul l ing out of its partnership in a high- profile economic conference in Riyadh, while Sir Richard Branson has frozen several business links with the Gulf state. A critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Khashoggi was l iving in self-imposed exile in the US and writing opinion pieces for the Washington Post before he vanished.
He visited the consulate to get a document confirming he had divorced his ex-wife in order to allow him to remarry.
Turkish officials are reported to have an audio recording of the alleged killing from an Apple Watch Khashoggi wore when he walked into the building.
The claim, published by the Sabah newspaper – through which Turkish security officers have leaked information about the case – also suggested video evidence exists.
Authorities are said to have recovered the audio from Khashoggi ’s iPhone and his iCloud account, after he gave his phone to his fiancee before entering the building.
The newspaper alleged Saudi off icials tried to delete the recordings, first by incorrectly guessing Khashoggi’s PIN on the watch then later using the journalist’s finger.
Apple Watches do not have a fingerprint ID unlock function.
An Apple Watch can record audio and can sync that later with an iPhone over a Bluetooth connection. CCTV footage has been broadcast of the moment Khashoggi walked into the consulate for his appointment.
Another video has emerged of men described as “Saudi intelligence officers” entering and leaving Turkey.
Turkish media say sources have identified a 15- strong team involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance.
One source told the Washington Post: “You can hear his voice and the voices of the men speaking Arabic.
“You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.”
Donald Trump yesterday said there would be “severe punishment” for Saudi Arabia if it turned out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate.
But the US president stopped short of trade sanctions, saying he didn’t want to block military sales.
He said: “I don’t want to hurt jobs. We’re going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment.”
Asked whether bin Salman gave an order to kill Khashoggi, Trump said: “Nobody knows yet but we’ll probably be able to find out.
“We would be very upset and angry if that were the case.”
Saudi officials say the allegations are baseless.
The Scottish Government said sanctions were reserved for the UK Government and declined to comment further.