US Implicates But Won't Punish Saudi Prince in Khashoggi Murder

A U.S. declassified report says that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved the operation to "capture or kill" journalist Jamal Khashoggi. | Photo: Twitter/@BagalueSunab Twitter/@BagalueSunab

27 February 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden was the one who decided to make the report public, although he first called Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

A declassified United States intelligence report revealed on Friday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved, and most likely ordered, the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in 2018.

"We assessed that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi," the report maintained.

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The U.S. intelligence report had long been leaked to the media, but had not yet been officially released.

U.S. President Joe Biden was the one who decided to make the report public, although he first called Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

In response, both bin Salman and the Saudi kingdom denied having ordered the assassination, which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi authorities have claimed that the crime occurred at the hands of a team of "rogue agents" who were sent to Turkey to bring back to Saudi Arabia the journalist, who was living in exile in the United States.

For Khashoggi's murder, a court in Turkey tried and sentenced five people to 20 years in prison in September 2020.