The Biden administration is set to release a truncated version of an intelligence report that concludes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 assassination of Jamal Khashogi, according to a report.
Four US officials told Reuters that the report – for which the CIA’s main contribution was – found that MBS likely ordered the assassination of a 59-year-old Washington Post columnist, who was disbanded inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
President Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday that he had read the report and hoped to speak on the phone with Saudi King Salman, the 85-year-old father of the Crown Prince, the country’s 35-year-old de facto ruler.
White House spokesman Jane Saki told reporters that the president would only communicate with the Saudi king and said that a dissolved report is being prepared to be released soon.
The release of the report is part of Biden’s policy to reorganize relations with Riyadh after years of Arab allies, a major oil producer, a pass on its human rights record and its intervention in the civil war in Yemen.
Khashogi went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 to pick up documents to marry Hashis Kengiz, but was killed and cut off by a team of operatives attached to the crown prince.
His remains were never found.
Riyadh eventually admitted that Khashogi had been killed in an “evil” extradition operation, but this was denied any involvement by the wrong prince.
The five were sentenced to death for the murder, but their sentence amounted to 20 years in prison after being forgiven by Khashogi’s family.
In October 2018, then-President Trump said that the facts of Khashogi’s killing could “never be known”, while stating that the US had already approved 17 Saudis to be involved in his assassination.
Khashogi’s 38-year-old fiancé called Biden, then president-elect, to make good on his campaign promise to gain accountability in Saudi’s disgruntled assassination.
A native of Turkey, Kengiz said, “I am calling for a presidential-election to evaluate the CIA and release the evidence.” “It will go a long way in exposing the truth about who is responsible for Jamal’s murder.”
In October, she filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., in which bin Salman was held responsible for the brutal murder of her beloved.
The lawsuit accuses Prince Mohammed and a host of Saudi’s interior ministry of “cruel and shameless crimes” that were the result of “planning of the week”.
In 2019, the UN human rights investigator, Agnes Calmard, accused Saudi Arabia of “deliberate, pre-planned execution” of Khashoggi and called for further investigation.
Colmar said, “There is sufficient credible evidence about the crown prince’s responsibility.”
Avril Haines, Biden’s new Director of National Intelligence, committed during her confirmation hearing to comply with a provision in the 2019 Defense Bill called the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to issue an unannounced report on the killing within 30 days Was required.
Meanwhile, Bin Salman underwent successful surgery for appendicitis, state media reported late Wednesday.
Rajkumar had “successful laparoscopic surgery [Wednesday] According to news agency AFP, in the morning for appendicitis at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, the official Saudi press agency reported.
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