The U.S. intelligence community revealed Friday, Feb. 26 that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved of the operation that killed Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey. U.S. President Joe Biden declared that he will hold Saudi Arabia accountable for human rights abuses the same day, further straining relationships between the two countries.
The report claimed that Saudi officials would most likely not carry out such a serious operation without the Crown Prince’s consent due to his absolute control of the kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations.
The government of Saudi Arabia has completely rejected the findings of the report, saying that it contained false information and conclusions.
Khashoggi wrote columns for the Washington Post that were often critical of the Saudi monarchy, despite being a Saudi citizen living in Virginia. He was killed Oct. 2, 2018 when he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. To this day, his remains have not been found. He was 59 years old.
When the news was released, Saudi Arabia at first denied knowledge of Khashoggi’s murder, but then blamed it on rogue security officials as international pressure increased. But suspicions of bin Salman’s involvement have existed for a long time.
The report extended a 2019 U.N. report which claimed that Khashoggi’s murder was premediated by Saudi Arabia and that a 15-member team of Saudi agents traveled to Istanbul to meet Khashoggi. The U.S. intelligence report further claims that seven of these members were part of the Rapid Intervention Force (RIF), bin Salman’s elite personnel, which would not have been involved without his approval.
The same day the report was released, the U.S. imposed visa bans for 76 Saudis believed to have threatened dissidents including but not limited to Khashoggi’s murder. The U.S. treasury also placed sanctions on the RIF and former deputy head of Saudi Arabia’ General Intelligence Presidency Ahmad Hassan Mohammed al Asiri, which was the agency claiming to have been assigned Khashoggi’s murder.
Both Democrats and Republicans are urging Biden to hold the Crown Prince accountable for his role in the murder and human rights abuses.
Biden recently spoke by phone with Saudi King Salman about the relationship between their two countries and changes that would soon be made following the U.S. intelligence report. However, so far Biden has not announced any concrete consequences for the Crown Prince, to the chagrin of Khashoggi’s journalist colleagues and friends.
The Society of Professional Journalists called the report “too little too late” and expressed that bin Salman should have already faced consequences. New York Times writer and friend of Khashoggi Nicholas Kristof was especially critical of bin Salman and Biden in his recent column about the situation.
The Washington Post editorial board expressed satisfaction with several of Biden’s actions to distance the U.S. from Saudi Arabia, while criticizing his lack of direct response to the Crown Prince’s role in Khashoggi’s murder.
In addition, the Biden administration claims it will persuade Saudi Arabia to find a diplomatic solution to the Saudi military campaign in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthis. This contrasts the assistance that the Obama and Trump administrations provided in the past.
