Report calls out abuses by Saudis

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration used an annual report on human-rights abuses to call out close partner Saudi Arabia on Wednesday over the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

The State Department’s annual global human-rights report said The Washington Post columnist was killed by agents of the kingdom while he was inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. But it drew no conclusion as to who was responsible, despite the belief of intelligence agencies and lawmakers that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder. The report noted Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has indicted 11 suspects and said 10 people were under investigation but has not released more information.

“At year’s end the [Public Prosecutor’s Office] had not named the suspects nor the roles allegedly played by them in the killing, nor had they provided a detailed explanation of the direction and progress of the investigation,” it said.

The report added that the murder was one of several instances in which “the government or its agents engaged in arbitrary or unlawful killings” and that “in other cases, the government did not punish officials accused of committing human rights abuses, contributing to an environment of impunity.”

The report said a variety of other human-rights abuses have taken place in Saudi Arabia, including the arrest of at least 20 prominent women’s-rights activists, executions for nonviolent offenses, forced disappearances and torture of prisoners.

And it highlighted issues related to the Saudi military operation in Yemen, saying that airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Iranian-backed rebels “resulted in civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure on a number of occasions.”

It also noted some gains in the monarchy, including that women were allowed to vote and run as candidates in municipal elections for the first time.