Riyadh said on Saturday that the assassination of critical journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a “tragedy” on which it was useless to epilogue, after the president of the United States, Joe Biden, mentioned it during his visit to the monarchy of the Gulf.
Critic of power after being close to it, Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in Istanbul, in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey, in 2018. The American intelligence services have pointed the responsibility of the crown prince, Mohammed Ben Salman Al Saud, inflaming relations between Riyadh and Washington.
Nicknamed “MBS”, the leader of the kingdom, who received Mr. Biden on Friday, ” has explained [à ce dernier] that it is[ssai]t a tragedy for Saudi Arabia”according to Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir.
The Crown Prince assured that ” the responsibles [avaient] is under investigation, [avaient] been confronted with justice and paid[ai]ent now for the crime”added Adel Al-Jubeir in an interview with CNN.
In 2020, a Saudi court sentenced eight men to between seven and 20 years in prison for the journalist’s murder.
Asked about a US intelligence report naming “MBS” as the sponsor of the operation, the Saudi minister launched: “We know well what intelligence concluded about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction”, which never existed. The Saudi official also highlighted the “errors” of the United States, citing the case of Abu Ghraib, this Iraqi prison where American soldiers practiced torture and humiliating treatment.
Quoted by the Saudi channel Al-Arabiya, an anonymous Saudi official also assured that the Khashoggi affair had been mentioned. ” rapidly “ during the meeting with Joe Biden, pointing out that“such an incident [pouvait] arrive all over the world ».
Ali Shihabi, an expert close to the Saudi government, meanwhile, assured that the crown prince had replied to Mr. Biden in “highlighting Americans’ doublespeak, making a lot of noise about Khashoggi while trying to downplay the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh”an American-Palestinian journalist killed in May by Israeli fire, according to the United Nations. “Apart from this frank exchange, the meeting was very cordial”he assured AFP.
Joe Biden is facing an avalanche of criticism for his meeting with “MBS”, when he had promised, during his campaign, to place human rights at the heart of his diplomacy.