Tag: Khashoggi murder

Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancee and pro-democracy group he founded sue Saudi crown prince in his slaying

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The fiancee of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a human rights organization he founded shortly before his death have accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of ordering Khashoggi’s killing to “permanently silence” his advocacy for democratic reform in the Arab world.

In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Hatice Cengiz and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) alleged that Khashoggi was tortured, murdered and dismembered “pursuant to a directive of Defendant Mohammed bin Salman.”

The crown prince and two dozen named co-defendants “saw Khashoggi’s actions in the United States as an existential threat to their pecuniary and other interests and, accordingly, conspired to commit the heinous acts that are the subject of this suit,” it said. Continue reading.

‘Repeatedly defied the law’: Washington Post editorial board slams Trump administration for ‘stonewalling’ Congress about Khashoggi’s murder

AlterNet logoSeventeen months have passed since the October 2018 murder of journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey by a Saudi hit squad. President Donald Trump has maintained that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who he considers a valuable U.S. ally, played no part in the assassination — that the killers acted without his knowledge. But Trump’s critics have accused him of being disingenuous. And the Washington Post’s editorial board, in an editorial published on March 8, slams Trump for continuing to “stonewall” Congress about Khashoggi’s murder.

“The Trump Administration has repeatedly defied the law in resisting efforts by Congress to enforce accountability for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the editorial asserts. “The latest instance came last month, when the administration responded — a month late — to a requirement in last year’s defense authorization act for an unclassified report identifying anyone implicated in ‘the directing, ordering or tampering of evidence’ in the case of Khashoggi.”

CIA Director Gina Haspel has said that she believes MBS played a direct role in Khaghoggi’s murder, and the Post notes that in 2019, a United Nations (UN) report had the same view. But the Post stresses that regardless, Trump has continued to be evasive. Continue reading.

Jamal Khashoggi’s death made the Saudi crown prince a pariah. Trump has helped rehabilitate him on the world stage.

Washington Post logoAt the annual Group of 20 gathering of world leaders in Osaka, Japan, in June, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, beamed before cameras as he stood center stage between President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a carefully choreographed group photo. He grinned as he sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he shook hands joyously with South Korean President Moon Jae-in after the two countries struck agreements and contracts worth $8.3 billion.

The world leaders’ embrace of Mohammed was a clear signal that the young prince, who the CIA, U.S. allies and a United Nations investigator say is responsible for the savage killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was being welcomed back, if reluctantly, into the community of nations. And it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Trump and his secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

Wednesday will mark one year since Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in that country’s consulate in Istanbul. Mohammed, who rose to power promising transformational social and economic change in one of the world’s most strategically important countries, and who was praised by prominent writers and American executives as heralding a bright future for Saudi Arabia, quickly became a pariah.

View the complete September 28 article by Shane Harris and John Hudson on The Washington Post website here.