Report calls out Saudis’ abuses
U.S. notes journalist’s killing but declines to assign blame
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration used an annual report on human-rights abuses to call out close partner Saudi Arabia on Wednesday over the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.
The State Department’s annual global human-rights report said The Washington Post columnist was killed by agents of the kingdom while he was inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. But it drew no conclusion as to who was responsible, despite the belief of intelligence agencies and lawmakers that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder. The report noted Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has indicted 11 suspects and said 10 people were under investigation but has not released more information.
“At year’s end the [Public Prosecutor’s Office] had not named the suspects nor the roles allegedly played by them in the killing, nor had they provided a detailed explanation of the direction and progress of the investigation,” it said. The report added that the murder was one of several instances in which “the government or its agents engaged in arbitrary or unlawful killings” and that “in other cases, the government did not punish officials accused of committing human rights abuses, contributing to an environment of impunity.”
The report said a variety of other human-rights abuses have taken place in Saudi Arabia, including the arrest of at least 20 prominent women’s-rights activists, executions for nonviolent offenses, forced disappearances and torture of prisoners. And it highlighted issues related to the Saudi military operation in Yemen, saying that airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Iranian-backed rebels “resulted in civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure on a number of occasions.”
It also noted some gains in the monarchy, including that women were allowed to vote and run as candidates in municipal elections for the first time.
Khashoggi had been living in Virginia in self-imposed exile as he wrote columns critical of the Saudi government under the crown prince.
Khashoggi’s killing in October caused tensions to soar between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, with members of Congress saying they believed the crown prince was behind the operation, an allegation the Saudi government has denied. Trump has been reluctant to place blame on a country that is central to his Middle East policy strategy.
In presenting the report, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. “will expose violations of human rights wherever they occur.” He did not mention Saudi Arabia in his remarks, but he made clear the Trump administration will deal with foreign countries no matter how poor their rights record to advance national interests.
“The policy of this administration is to engage with other governments, regardless of their record, if doing so will further U.S. interests,” Pompeo said, in an apparent effort to limit criticism of Trump’s closeness to the Saudis, outreach to serial rights abuser North Korea and discussions with China and Russia.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, the report pointed out abuses committed by NATO ally Turkey.
Turkey arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands of lawmakers, lawyers and journalists over alleged terrorism ties or legitimate speech and did not look thoroughly into abuse allegations. “The government continued to take limited steps to investigate, prosecute, and punish members of the security forces and other officials accused of human rights abuses; impunity for such abuses remained a problem,” the report said.
Human-rights groups lambasted the report as inadequate even with Pompeo’s qualification that the administration must work to promote U.S. national interests.
“From its shielding of Saudi leaders from accountability over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, to its cozy relationship with NATO allies trending towards authoritarianism, the Trump administration seems disinterested in its own advice,” said Human Rights First. “With respect to the Khashoggi killing, the administration’s continued insistence that it is waiting on a Saudi-led investigation is laughable, given the complete absence of rule of law in that country.”
The report noted abuses in a number of familiar U.S. adversaries like China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, all of which were cited for major violations, including forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary killings and arrests and political prosecutions.