Call for UK to sanction Saudi Crown Prince
A leading human rights lawyer has called for UK sanctions against Saudi Arabia’s crown prince after a US intelligence report concluded he likely gave approval for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The document ratcheted up pressure on the US administration to hold the kingdom to account over the murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, in October 2018, that caused outrage across the world.
Scots barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy, who was part of the United Nations team that travelled to Turkey to investigate the murder, said yesterday that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should face sanctions here – even if the US was seemingly reluctant to avoid direct punishment of the prince himself.
“Like most human rights lawyers, I am disappointed that the United States has chosen not to sanction him,” she said, “because I certainly will be urging the British Government to sanction him.
“We have placed 23 people connected with this operation on a sanctions list, freezing their assets and not allowing them visas to enter this country.
“I think the same should be happening to the man who basically put out a capture and kill design upon Mr Khashoggi.”
She added: “This was not a rogue operation that went wrong. This was a design that came from the very top.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has defended the US approach to the issue, which appeared determined to preserve its relationship with the kingdom.
He said: “I think that we have to understand that this is bigger than any one person.”