Biden pulls US punches over killing
The newly declassified US intelligence report that says Saudi Arabia’s crown prince likely approved the killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has ratcheted up the pressure on the Biden Administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew worldwide outrage.
The public rebuke of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a touchstone in US-Saudi relations. Americans will forever associate him with the brutal killing of a journalist who promoted democracy and human rights.
Yet even as the Biden Administration released the findings yesterday, it appeared determined to preserve the Saudi relationship by avoiding direct punishment of the prince himself – despite demands from some Democrats in Congress and Khashoggi allies for sanctions.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the approach.
‘‘What we’ve done by the actions we’ve taken is not to rupture the relationship but to recalibrate it to be more in line with our interests and our values,’’ he said. ‘‘I think that we have to understand as well that this is bigger than any one person.’’
The conclusion that the prince approved an operation to kill or capture Khashoggi was based on his decision-making role inside the kingdom, the involvement of a key adviser and members of his protective detail, and his past support for violently silencing dissidents abroad, according to the report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Though intelligence officials stopped short of saying the prince ordered the October 2018 murder, the four-page document described him as having ‘‘absolute control’’ over the kingdom’s intelligence organisations, and said it would have been highly unlikely for an operation like the killing to have been carried out without his approval.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry responded by saying the kingdom ‘‘categorically rejects the offensive and incorrect assessment in the report pertaining to the kingdom’s leadership’’.
Shortly after the findings were released, the US State Department announced a new policy, called the ‘‘Khashoggi Ban’’, that will allow the US to deny visas to people who harm, threaten or spy on journalists on behalf of a foreign government.
It also said it would impose visa restrictions on 76 Saudi individuals who have engaged or threatened dissidents overseas.
The State Department declined to comment on who would be affected, but a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the prince was not targeted.
Rights activists said the lack of any punitive measures would signal impunity for the prince and other autocrats.
Without sanctions, ‘‘it’s a joke’’, said Tawwakol Karman, a Nobel Peace Price winner from neighbouring Yemen and a friend of Khashoggi’s.
Though the Biden Administration’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is likely to be more adversarial than that of Donald Trump’s, the reality is that Riyadh’s oil reserves and status as a counterbalance to Iran in the Middle East have long made it a strategic – if difficult – ally.
The prince, an ambitious 35-year-old who has rapidly consolidated power since his father became king in 2015, said in 2019 that he took ‘‘full responsibility’’ for the killing since it happened on his watch, but denied ordering it.
Saudi officials have said Khashoggi’s killing was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials. Saudi Arabian courts last year sentenced eight Saudi nationals to prison for the killing.