Canada ‘considers’ sanctioning Saudis
PORT COLBORNE, ONT. • Canada might follow a U.S. decision to put personal sanctions on Saudi Arabian officials allegedly involved in killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey last month, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says.
The United States announced Thursday it would use its “Magnitsky law” to go after 17 people. They include the Saudi consul-general in Turkey, Mohammed al-Otaibi. Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi monarchy, was last seen going into the consulate in Istanbul that al-Otaibi ran.
Magnitsky laws, named for a Russian accountant killed in prison after exposing corruption, let governments freeze people’s assets and restrict their travel.
“We are very aware of the U.S. sanctions on certain Saudi individuals and we have been in close contact with the U.S. about those Magnitsky sanctions,” Freeland said Thursday. “Canada welcomes the U.S. actions. When it comes to Canada, we also do have Magnitsky legislation in place and that is a tool which we have found very useful in our foreign policy and that is certainly something which, in the coming days, Canada is actively considering.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada is still seeking clear answers from Saudi Arabia about what happened.
“I think we stand with our international partners on ensuring accountability,” Trudeau told reporters at a summit in Singapore.
Trudeau’s Liberal government is struggling with a multibillion-dollar sale of Canadian-made armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, a deal negotiated under the previous Conservative government but that needs ongoing approvals to keep shipments flowing. Besides Khashoggi’s suspicious death, Saudi Arabia’s involvement in a savage civil war in neighbouring Yemen raises questions about the morality of selling it weapons.
Without giving details, Trudeau has suggested the penalties for breaching the arms contract would be massive.
Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor said earlier Thursday he is seeking the death penalty for five suspects charged with Khashoggi’s killing.
The move appears aimed at distancing the killers and their operation from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Facing mounting international pressure, Saudi prosecutors also pointed fingers at two men in the crown prince’s inner circle but stopped short of accusing them of ordering the hit. The two are instead being accused of ordering Khashoggi’s forced return in an operation the Saudis allege went awry.
In a press conference, Sheikh Shalan al-Shalan, a deputy attorney general, said the Oct. 2 killing was ordered by one man: the individual responsible for the negotiating team sent to drag Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia. He did not disclose that individual’s name, but said he was part of a 15-man team sent to Turkey.