KHASHOGGI KILLING THE FOCUS OF COMPLAINT

An international media rights group has filed a complaint with German prosecutors against Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and four other top officials accusing them of crimes against humanity over allegations they were involved in the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, authorities said Tuesday.

The German federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe told The Associated Press that it received the complaint from Parisbased Reporters Without Borders on Monday.

Spokesman Markus Schmitt said he could not speculate on how long it would take to consider the complaint, which is more than 500 pages long.

“I can only say that we will naturally evaluate the complaint according to the law,” he said.

The complaint, relying partially on a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday, identifies five primary suspects: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his close adviser Saud Al-Qahtani and three other highranking Saudi officials, Reporters Without Borders said.

It also details the cases of 34 other journalists, alleging they “are victims of widespread and systematic attacks for political reasons,” Reporters Without Borders said.

The named suspects were identified for their “organizational or executive responsibility in Khashoggi’s killing, as well as their involvement in developing a state policy to attack and silence journalists,” the group said in a statement.

In the U.S. report, intelligence officials stopped short of saying the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s slaying in Turkey in October 2018, but described him as having “absolute control” over the kingdom’s intelligence organizations and said it would have been highly unlikely for an operation like the killing to have been carried out without his approval.

Saudia Arabia’s U.N. ambassador, Abdallah AlMouallimi, on Monday disputed the report, saying it didn’t come “anywhere close” to proof of any allegations against the crown prince.

Under the German legal system, anyone can file an allegation with prosecutors and there is an obligation for them to look into the accusations. It is up to them to determine then whether they justify launching a full investigation.

German law allows prosecutors to claim universal jurisdiction in crimes against humanity.