US implicates Saudi crown prince in 2018 killing of journalist Khashoggi
Saudi Arabia's crown prince is likely to have approved an operation to kill or capture a Us-based journalist inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly-declassified intelligence report.
The release could escalate pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew bipartisan and international outrage.
The central conclusion of the report was widely expected given that intelligence officials were said to have reached it soon after the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman's authoritarian consolidation of power, in October 2018.
The two-page report said the intelligence community based its conclusions on the absolute control the crown prince had over decision-making in the kingdom,his“supportforusing violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi,” and the participation in the operation of his senior aides and security officials.
The public assignment of responsibility amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of the ambitious 35-year-old crown prince and is likely to set the tone for the new administration's relationship with a country President Joe Biden has criticised, but which the White
Housealsoregardsinsomecontexts as a strategic partner.
The report was released one day after a later-than-usual courtesy call from Mr Biden to Saudi King Salman, though a White House summary of the conversationmadenomention of the killing and said instead that the men had discussed the countries' longstanding partnership. The kingdom's staterunsaudipressagencysimilarlydidnotmentionmrkhashoggi'skillinginitsreportaboutthe call, rather focusing on regional issues such as Iran and the ongoing war in Yemen.
Mr Khashoggi had visited the Saudi consulate in Turkey planning to pick up documents needed for his wedding. Once inside, he died at the hands of more than a dozen Saudi security and intelligence officials and others who had assembled ahead of his arrival.
Surveillance cameras had tracked his route and those of his alleged killers in the hours leading up to his killing.
A Turkish bug planted at the consulate reportedly captured the sound of a forensic saw, operated by a Saudi colonel whowasalsoaforensicsexpert, dismembering Mr Khashoggi's body within an hour of his entering the building. The whereaboutsofhisremainsare still unknown.
Theprincesaidin2019hetook "full responsibility" for the killing since it happened on his watch, but denied ordering it.
Saudi officials have said Mr
Khashoggi's killing was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials.
Saudiarabiancourtslastyear announcedtheyhadsentenced eight Saudi nationals to prison over Mr Khashoggi's killing.
Donaldtrump,whohadbeen briefed on the report while he was president, insisted there were no firm conclusions.
Although his administration imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials with alleged direct involvement in the killing, Trump insisted that the security alliance and massive Saudi purchases of US weaponry were more important than holding the top Saudi leadership accountable.