Calgary Herald

U.K., France, Germany seek proof from Saudis

KHASHOGGI DEATH

- Rob CRilly and SaRa ElizabEth WilliamS

The U.K., France and Germany Sunday demanded evidence from Saudi Arabia to back its claim that Jamal Khashoggi died in a fight at its consulate.

Riyadh’s explanatio­n that the dissident journalist was killed when an argument spiralled out of control “needs to be backed by facts,” a joint statement said amid increasing skepticism about the Saudi version of events.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister last night appeared on American television to admit that officials still did not know exactly how the 59-year-old died or where his body was. The kingdom said late on Friday night that Khashoggi died in a “fistfight” that broke out when he was detained in Istanbul.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Sunday night that Ankara would release “the naked truth” in the form of a full report on Monday.

In the joint statement Jeremy Hunt, the U.K. Foreign Secretary, Jean-Yves Le Drian, his French counterpar­t, and Heiko Maas, of Germany, condemned the killing. “Yet there remains an urgent need for clarificat­ion of exactly what happened on October 2 — beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigat­ion, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible,” it said.

They demanded accountabi­lity and due process for any crimes committed. “We will ultimately make our judgment based on the credibilit­y of the further explanatio­n we receive about what happened and our confidence that such a shameful event cannot and will not ever be repeated,” they said.

Saudi’s admission late on Friday night was the third version of the events released by the kingdom. Accounts started with claims that Khashoggi walked out of the consulate, before moving on to blaming “rogue killers” and finally settling on the supposed fight that erupted during what officials said were “discussion­s.”

In an interview on Fox News, Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, offered his condolence­s to Khashoggi’s family and said the death was a “mistake.” Saudi critics believe that the official explanatio­n may be designed to shield Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince, from blame and have stepped up calls for his removal.

On Sunday, Donald Trump also toughened his line. He told The Washington Post: “Obviously there’s been deception, there’s been lies.”

His words illustrate a dilemma for the United States, which sees Riyadh as a customer for billions of dollars of arms and an ally in efforts to contain Iran.

While government­s and investors from around the world have withdrawn from the Future Investment Initiative forum — known as “Davos in the desert” — Sunday, it emerged that Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s treasury secretary, would travel to Riyadh this week to discuss the campaign against Iran.

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