Saudi Arabia crown prince protected pariah at summit
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA » The legions of protesters demonstrating at a leaders summit here have unfurled a sea of standard-issue signs, ranging from “No to Imperialism” to “Yankees Go Home.” But a newer rallying cry also appeared on a smattering of homemade posters.
“Mohammed bin Salman, Assassin!”
For Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — widely known by his initials, MBS — the Group of 20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires has amounted to a key test: his first appearance at a major international event since the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi who was a frequent critic of the kingdom’s de facto leader.
“The CIA thinks he is the one who ordered the kill on Khashoggi,” said Cristian Pirovano, a 40-yearold teacher from Buenos Aires, referring to U.S. intelligence assessments that the crown prince almost certainly orchestrated the assassination of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, at his country’s consulate in Turkey.
“We don’t want him here, because of the assassination of the journalist, because of what the Saudis are doing in Yemen, because of all this death,” Pirovano said.
Mohammed came to the
summit a pariah to some leaders — he was positioned at the far edge of the back row in the annual “family photo” with attending leaders Saturday, and leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel had let it be known before the summit that they would not see Mohammed in Argentina. The crown prince also holed up in the fortified Saudi Embassy away from the rest of the Saudi delegation after his arrival here, amid moves by Argentine prosecutors to investigate human rights complaints against him.
But Mohammed was also secure in the knowledge that President Donald Trump had already said that the crown prince’s culpability, if any, would not rupture the U.S. relationship with Riyadh.
That guarantee helped convince Mohammed that he could make the trip on behalf of his country, which is slated to play host to the same G-20 gathering in 2020. And Mohammed has found comfort in some quarters here — a high-five from a grinning Russian President Vladimir Putin, and a brief but symbolic televised exchange with Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The White House said Trump merely “exchanged pleasantries.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also photographed smiling next to Mohammed at their private meeting Friday, and British Prime Minister Theresa May has defended her plans to also meet with the young Saudi.
But the man who once sought to fashion himself as the younger, fresher face of Saudi leadership has also arrived to find himself viewed as tainted, transformed into a global symbol of brutal tyranny. In what was meant to be a triumphant display of his consolidation of power at home, Mohammed has instead been dogged by legal attempts to prosecute him in Argentina for foreign crimes, singled out by protesters and scolded by European leaders.
“His reputation has obviously been seriously damaged,” said Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of Human Rights Watch Americas Division. “I think he was convinced that he could walk on water and pay no cost whatsoever. But this case will follow him every time he leaves Saudi Arabia, probably for the rest of his life.”