US presses MBS over unsolved Khashoggi murder
MONTHS after the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday, after his recent Middle East tour, that he reminded the Saudi kingdom of the need to hold “every single person” involved in the murder accountable.
SAUDI Arabia continues to be in the spotlight over its involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as the United States urges the country’s crown prince to hold everyone who played a role in the murder accountable.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that he had told Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) during his Middle East tour that “every single person who has responsibility for the murder of Khashoggi needs to be held accountable.”
King Salman and MBS “both acknowledge that this accountability needs to take place,” Pompeo said in Riyadh following talks with the two men.
He said the Saudis understood and had reiterated pledges to pursue the case wherever it leads. He would not comment on U.S. intelligence suggesting the crown prince may have ordered the killing.
Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a group of Saudi operatives shortly after he entered the country’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. Despite more than 100 days passing since his assassination, the whereabouts of his body remain unknown.
The kingdom initially denied any role in Khashoggi’s disappearance before acknowledging that he was murdered inside the consulate but passed the buck to rogue agents, while insisting that MBS had no prior knowledge of the matter, an explanation which was far from convincing for many.
Last week, U.S. Congress honored Khashoggi on the 100th day of his killing. Commenting on the killing, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at the event that Congress is devoted to seeing that the people responsible for his death are held accountable. “If we decide that commercial interests should override the statements that we make and the actions that we take, then we must admit that we have lost all moral authority,” Pelosi added.
She also called on the U.S. to confront the threats against journalists everywhere and vowed that U.S. lawmakers would work until justice is found for Khashoggi.
Riyadh remains apprehensive about revealing new information regarding the murder. Previously, the kingdom’s attorney general sought the death penalty for five of the 11 defendants charged with the murder of Khashoggi as their high-profile trial opened in Riyadh. The Saudi prosecution demanded death sentences for five suspects.