Saudi Arabia has executed 81 men on March 12, 2022- more than during the whole of 2021.
The group – including seven Yemenis and one Syrian national – were convicted of “multiple heinous crimes”, including terrorism, state news agency SPA said.
Some were charged with belonging to the Islamic State group (ISIS), al-Qaeda or the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Rights organisations say many do not receive fair trials in Saudi Arabia, an allegation the government rejects.
According to SPA, the latest group had been tried by 13 judges and gone through a three-stage judicial process.
They were accused of plotting attacks on vital economic targets, killing or targeting members of the security forces, kidnapping, torture, rape and smuggling weapons into Saudi Arabia.
The country has one of the highest execution rates in the world – fifth in a list compiled by Amnesty International, the other four being China, Iran, Egypt and Iraq.
A former top Saudi intelligence official has alleged that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman suggested using a “poison ring” to kill the late King Abdullah.
In an interview with CB’s 60 Minutes, Saad al-Jabri said Prince Mohammed bin Salman told his cousin in 2014 that he wanted to do so to clear the throne for his father.
There were tensions within the ruling family at the time over the succession.
The Saudi government has called Saad al-Jabri a discredited former official with a long history of fabrication.
In his interview with CBS, Jabri warned that Crown Prince Mohammed – Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and the son of King Salman – was a “psychopath, killer, in the Middle East with infinite resources, who poses threat to his people, to the Americans and to the planet”.
He alleged that at a 2014 meeting the prince suggested to his cousin Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the then interior minister, that he could arrange the killing of King Abdullah.
“He told him: ‘I want to assassinate King Abdullah. I get a poison ring from Russia. It’s enough for me just to shake hand with him and he will be done,'” Saad al-Jabri said.
“Whether he’s just bragging… he said that and we took it seriously.”
Saad al-Jabri said the matter was settled privately within the royal court. But he added that the meeting was secretly filmed and that he knew where two copies of the video recording were.
King Abdullah died at the age of 90 in 2015 and was succeeded by his half-brother Salman, Mohammed bin Salman’s father, who named Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince.
In 2017, Mohammed bin Nayef was replaced as heir to the throne by Mohammed bin Salman. He also lost his role as interior minister and was reportedly placed under house arrest before being detained last year on unspecified charges.
Saad al-Jabri fled to Canada after Mohammed bin Nayef was ousted.
He said in the interview that he was warned by a friend in a Middle Eastern intelligence service that Mohammed bin Salman was sending a hit team to kill him in October 2018, just days after Saudi agents murdered the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.
He alleged that a six-person team landed at an airport in Ottawa but were deported after customs found they were carrying “suspicious equipment for DNA analysis”.
Last year, Saad al-Jabri accused the crown prince of attempted murder in a civil suit filed in a US federal court.
The prince rejected the allegations. He has also denied any involvement in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, although US intelligence agencies assessed that he approved the operation.
In a statement sent to CBS, the Saudi embassy in Washington labeled Saad al-Jabri as “a discredited former government official with a long history of fabricating and creating distractions to hide the financial crimes he committed, which amount to billions of dollars, to furnish a lavish life-style for himself and his family”.
Saad al-Jabri is being sued for corruption by various Saudi entities and a Canadian judge has frozen his assets saying there is “overwhelming evidence of fraud”.
He denies stealing any government money, saying his former employers rewarded him generously.
In March 2020, Saudi authorities detained Saad al-Jabri’s son Omar and daughter Sarah in what human rights groups said was an apparent effort to coerce him to return to Saudi Arabia.
Last November, two months after their father sued the crown prince, the siblings were sentenced to nine and six-and-a-half years in prison respectively by a Saudi court after being convicted of money laundering and “attempting to escape” the country. They denied the charges.
An appeals court upheld their sentences in a secret hearing at which they were not present.
The report released by the office of the US director of national intelligence has found that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the murder of exiled Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
The report released by the Biden administration says the Saudi prince approved a plan to either “capture or kill” Jamal Khashoggi, who was based in the US.
It is the first time the US has publicly named the crown prince, who denies ordering the murder.
Meanwhile, the US announced sanctions on dozens of Saudis but not the prince himself.
Jamal Khashoggi, 59, was killed while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Washington Post journalist had once been an adviser to the Saudi government and close to the royal family but he fell out of favor and went into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017.
From there, Jamal Khashoggi wrote a monthly column in the Washington Post in which he criticized the policies of Prince Mohammed.
The report says: “We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the son of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and is considered to be the effective ruler of the kingdom.
The intelligence report lists three reasons for believing that the Saudi prince must have approved the operation:
his control of decision-making in the kingdom since 2017
the direct involvement in the operation of one of his advisers as well as members of his protective detail
his “support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad”
The report goes on to name individuals allegedly complicit in, or responsible for, Jamal Khashoggi’s death. But it says “we do not know how far in advance” those involved planned to harm him.
Saudi authorities have blamed the killing on a “rogue operation” by a team of agents sent to return the journalist to the kingdom, and a Saudi court tried and sentenced five individuals to 20 years in prison last September, after initially sentencing them to death.
In 2019, UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard accused the Saudi state of the “deliberate, premeditated execution” of Jamal Khashoggi and dismissed the Saudi trial as an “antithesis of justice”.
Shortly after the report was released, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the travel restrictions, dubbed the “Khashoggi Ban”.
Those targeted are “believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities”, he said.
“Perpetrators targeting perceived dissidents on behalf of any foreign government should not be permitted to reach American soil,” Antony Blinken warned.
In addition, the treasury department sanctioned some of those around Prince Mohammed: one of his close aides, former deputy intelligence chief Ahmad Asiri, as well as his personal protective force, which was involved in the killing.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is a key American ally in the Middle East.
President Joe Biden is expected to take a firmer line than his predecessor Donald Trump on human rights and the rule of law in Saudi Arabia.
In a phone call on February 25 with King Salman, President Biden “affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law”, the White House said.
According to sources quoted by Reuters, the Biden administration is also considering the cancelation of arms deals with Saudi Arabia that pose human rights concerns as well as the limiting of future military sales to “defensive” weapons.
The trial of 20 Saudi nationals accused of killing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has begun in absentia in Turkey.
Jamal Khashoggi, 59, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
Those being tried include two former top aides to Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Jamal Khashoggi was a vocal critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia carried out a separate trial over the killing that was heavily criticized as incomplete.
The trial in Istanbul follows an international outcry over the murder, which tarnished the prince’s reputation.
Turkish prosecutors accuse the former deputy head of Saudi intelligence, Ahmed al-Asiri, and the royal court’s media adviser Saud al-Qahtani of having led the operation and instructed a Saudi hit team.
The other 18 defendants are accused of having suffocated Jamal Khashoggi, whose remains have not been found. Turkish officials say his body was dismembered and removed to an unknown site.
Jamal Khashoggi, who was resident in the US, had entered the consulate seeking papers for his impending wedding.
The journalist’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz is attending the trial alongside the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, who has directly linked the crown prince to the killing, AFP news agency reports.
The Saudi authorities initially denied any involvement in the case, but later called it a “rogue operation”.
In December 2019, a court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death and three to jail for Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, but the trial was secretive and the defendants were not named.
The CIA and some Western governments believe the murder was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – something he denies. The crown prince is de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.
UN special rapporteur Callamard says Jamal Khashoggi was “the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible”.
At the time of his death Jamal Khashoggi worked for the Washington Post.
The prosecutors have charged Ahmed al-Asiri and Saud al-Qahtani with “instigating the deliberate and monstrous killing, causing torment”.
Hatice Cengiz is hoping that the trial will reveal significant new evidence and finally reveal what happened to Jamal Khashoggi’s remains.
Five people have been sentenced to
death by a court in Saudi Arabia over the murder of the journalist Jamal
Khashoggi last year.
Three others have been jailed over
the case.
Jamal Khashoggi, 59, a prominent
critic of the Saudi government, was killed inside the kingdom’s consulate in
the Turkish city of Istanbul by a team of Saudi agents.
According to the Saudi authorities,
the incident was the result of a “rogue operation” and put 11 unnamed
individuals on trial.
The prince denied any involvement, but i
In October, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman he said he took “full
responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed
by individuals working for the Saudi government”.
A senior aide to the crown prince, Saud al-Qahtani, was sacked and
investigated over the killing but not charged “due to insufficient
evidence”, the public prosecution said. Former Deputy Intelligence Chief
Ahmad Asiri was put on trial but acquitted on the same grounds.
The Turkish foreign ministry said the decision of the Saudi court
“falls short of the expectations of Turkey and the international community
for the clarification of all aspects of this murder and the serving of
justice”.
Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, called the Saudi announcement
“not acceptable”.
The publisher of the Washington Post,
for whom Jamal Khashoggi wrote columns, said: “The complete lack of transparency and the Saudi government’s
refusal to co-operate with independent investigators suggests that this was
merely a sham trial.”
However, Jamal Khashoggi’s son Salah, who lives in Saudi Arabia, tweeted: “We affirm our confidence in the Saudi
judiciary at all levels, that it has been fair to us and that justice has been
achieved.”
Jamal Khashoggi, who went into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate on October 2, 2018, to obtain papers he needed to marry Hatice Cengiz.
President Donald Trump has refused to respond
to a request from Congress to provide a report determining who killed the Saudi
journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In October 2018, senators wrote a letter demanding the murder be
investigated and that the White House give more information.
A Trump administration official said the president was within his rights to
decline to act.
Jamal Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in
October last year.
The journalist was a strong critic of the Saudi government. His body was
reportedly dismembered and has still not been found.
US intelligence officials have reportedly said such an operation would have
needed the approval of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
However, Saudi officials insist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by a
“rogue” team of Saudi agents not acting on the prince’s orders.
An administration statement said President Trump “maintains his
discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when
appropriate”.
However, Democratic senators told the New
York Times President Trump was in breach of the so-called Magnitsky Act, which
requires a response within 120 days to requests from Senate committee leaders.
That deadline passed on February 8.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has written to Senate leaders describing actions
taken against individuals.
However, the documents do not indicate who was responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s
death, as demanded by the senators.
The US has imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials, including Saud
al-Qahtani, a former adviser to the crown prince who, it alleged, was
“part of the planning and execution of the operation” that led to Jamal
Khashoggi’s murder.
However, President Trump has faced criticism from senators for failing to condemn the Saudi crown prince directly.
Adel al-Jubeir criticised the way Turkey has shared information with Saudi Arabia.
He said: “The Turkish authorities have not been as forthcoming as we believe they should have been.
“We have asked our friends in Turkey to provide us with evidence that we can use in a court of law. We have not received it in the manner that it should have been received.”
President Erdogan says the order to kill Jamal Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government but insists he does not want to damage the Saudi royal family.
The Saudi government denies that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the killing.
The Saudi public prosecutor has said Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate as a result of a “rogue operation” on the orders of an intelligence officer.
Jamal Khashoggi was given a lethal injection after a struggle. The journalist’s body was then dismembered inside the consulate in Istanbul and the body parts were handed over to a local”collaborator” outside the grounds, the prosecutor said.
The CIA did not conclude that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump has revealed.
Jamal Khashoggi was killed on October 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
However, officials told media such an operation would have needed the crown prince’s approval and Saudi Arabia maintains it was a “rogue operation”.
Asked about the CIA’s reported evaluation by reporters in Florida, President Trump said: “They didn’t conclude.”
The president’s comments on November 21 came as the Saudi crown prince began a regional tour of the Middle East, starting with the United Arab Emirates – his first official trip abroad since Jamal Khashoggi was killed.
Prince Mohammed is also expected to participate in a G20 meeting of world leaders in Buenos Aires at the end of the month that will be attended by leaders from the US, Turkey and a number of European countries.
Meanwhile, France has announced that it is imposing sanctions on 18 Saudi nationals – the same individuals targeted with sanctions by the US, UK and Germany – allegedly linked to the Khashoggi murder.
Their list of individuals does not include Prince Mohammed, a spokesperson for the French ministry of foreign affairs said.
President Trump told reporters in Florida: “They have feelings certain ways. I have the report, they have not concluded, I don’t know if anyone’s going to be able to conclude the crown prince did it.”
He added: “But whether he did or whether he didn’t, he denies it vehemently. His father denies it, the king, vehemently.”
However, earlier this week, President Trump released a statement suggesting that Prince Mohammed “could very well” have known about the incident.
The president’s statement said: “[It] could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
He has repeatedly stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia to the US following the killing, calling Saudi Arabia a “steadfast partner” that has agreed to invest “a record amount of money” in the US.
Last week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that President Trump had confidence in the CIA following conversations with Director Gina Haspel and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the Khashoggi murder.
Sources quoted in the US media at the time stressed that there was no single piece of evidence linking the crown prince directly to the murder, but officials believe the killing would have required his endorsement.
Separately, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday that Director Haspel told Turkish officials last month that the CIA had a recording in which the crown prince gave instructions to “silence” Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible.
When asked about the claims by reporters, President Trump said: “I don’t want to talk about it. You’ll have to ask them.”
Saudi Arabia says claims that the crown prince may have ordered the Khashoggi killing are false and maintains that he knew nothing about it.
As a prominent journalist, Jamal Khashoggi covered major stories including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of Osama Bin Laden for various Saudi news organizations.
For decades, Jamal Khashoggi was close to the Saudi royal family and also served as an adviser to the government.
However, he fell out of favor and went into self-imposed exile in the US last year. From there, Jamal Khashoggi wrote a monthly column in the Washington Post in which he criticized the policies of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In his first column for the Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi said he feared being arrested in an apparent crackdown on dissent overseen by the prince since.
In his last column, Jamal Khashoggi criticized Saudi involvement in the Yemen conflict.
According to recent reports, the CIA believes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sources close to the CIA said it had assessed the evidence in detail.
It is understood there is no “smoking gun” but US officials think such an operation would need the crown prince’s approval.
However, Saudi Arabia has called the claim false and insisted that Prince Mohammed knew nothing about plans for the killing.
Saudi Arabia insists Jamal Khashoggi was killed as a result of a “rogue operation”.
The White House says President Donald Trump has spoken to CIA Director Gina Haspel and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the CIA’s assessment of the Khashoggi murder.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders gave no details but said President Trump had confidence in the CIA.
Before the briefing, the president stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia to the United States, as he has done since news of Jamal Khashoggi’s killing emerged.
While there has been widespread international condemnation of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder there has been little in the way of substantial action.
Jamal Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain a marriage document. The journalist’s body has not been found.
Turkey also insists the order to the Saudi dissident came from the highest levels.
The Washington Post, which Jamal Khashoggi worked for, says the CIA assessment was based partly on a phone call made by the crown prince’s brother, Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the US.
Prince Khalid allegedly called Jamal Khashoggi at the direction of his brother and gave him assurances that he would be safe to go to the consulate.
However, Prince Khalid, now back in Saudi Arabia, tweeted that he had not been in contact with Jamal Khashoggi for nearly a year.
The prince said he had never suggested Jamal Khashoggi – who had been in London for a conference until the day before his disappearance – should go to Turkey for any reason.
It is understood CIA agents have also examined a call made to a senior aide of Crown Prince Mohammed by the team that carried out the killing.
Sources quoted in the media stressed that there was no single piece of evidence linking Crown Prince Mohammed directly to the murder, but officials believe such an operation would have needed his approval.
At a news conference in Riyadh on November 15, Deputy Public Prosecutor Shalaan bin Rajih Shalaan said Jamal Khashoggi was given a lethal injection and his body was dismembered inside the consulate after his death.
The body parts were then handed over to a local “collaborator” outside the grounds, the prosecutor added.
A composite sketch of the collaborator has been produced and investigations are continuing to locate the remains.
Eleven unidentified people have been charged over Jamal Khashoggi’s death and the prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for five of them.
A Saudi intelligence officer ordered dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, and not Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor has concluded.
The intelligence officer was tasked with persuading Jamal Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia, a spokesman said.
Jamal Khashoggi was given a lethal injection after a struggle in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, he added.
The Gulf kingdom’s public prosecutor has charged 11 people over the murder and is seeking the death penalty for five of them.
Their cases have been referred to a court while investigations into another 10 people suspected of involvement continue.
Meanwhile, the US treasury department imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials who it said had “targeted and brutally killed” Jamal Khashoggi, who lived and worked in the US, and had to “face consequences for their actions”.
They included Saud al-Qahtani, a former adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who the treasury department alleged was “part of the planning and execution of the operation” that led to Jamal Khashoggi’s murder; Maher Mutreb, who it said had “coordinated and executed” the operation; and Mohammed Alotaibi, the Istanbul consul-general.
According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the sanctions were “an important step in responding to Khashoggi’s killing” and vowed to “continue to seek all relevant facts, consult Congress, and work with other nations to hold accountable those involved”.
At a news conference in Riyadh on November 15, Deputy Public Prosecutor Shalaan bin Rajih Shalaan said Jamal Khashoggi’s body was dismembered inside the consulate after his death.
The body parts were then handed over to a local “collaborator” outside the grounds, he added. A composite sketch of the collaborator has been produced and investigations are continuing to locate the remains.
The prosecutor did not identify any of those charged with the murder.
However, Shalaan bin Rajih Shalaane said investigations had “revealed that the person who ordered the killing was the head of the negotiations team” sent to Istanbul by deputy intelligence chief Gen Ahmed al-Assiri to force Jamal Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia from his self-imposed exile.
“[The crown prince] did not have any knowledge about it,” the prosecutor insisted.
Crown Prince Mohammed, the son of King Salman and Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, has denied any role in what he has called a “heinous crime that cannot be justified”.
However, critics believe it is highly unlikely the crown prince would not have been aware of the operation.
Several of the 21 people arrested over the murder have been seen in his security detail in the past. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani have also been sacked over the incident.
The prosecutor said Saud al-Qahtani had been banned from travelling and remained under investigation, but he did not say what had happened to Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said “the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government” but that he does not believe King Salman gave it.
On November 15, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that some of the statements by the Saudi deputy public prosecutor were “unsatisfactory”.
Turkish officials have alleged that the 15 Saudi agents who flew to Istanbul in the hours before the murder, one of whom is believed to have been a forensic pathologist working for the Saudi interior ministry, were carrying a bone saw.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has confirmed that his country’s intelligence has heard an audio recording of the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
He said: “Canada has been fully briefed up on what Turkey had to share.”
PM Trudeau is the first Western leader to confirm his country has listened to the purported tape of the murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
On November 10, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had given copies to the US, UK, Germany, France and Saudi Arabia.
“We gave them the tapes,” he told reporters before flying to Paris for a gathering of world leaders commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One.
“They’ve also listened to the conversations, they know it.”
However, the US has not said whether it has received a tape and France’s foreign minister has said it is not in possession of one as far as he is aware.
Saudi Arabia has admitted a team of agents murdered Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent critic who was living in self-imposed exile in the US and writing for the Washington Post, and it has arrested 18 people allegedly involved.
At a news conference in Paris on November 12, PM Justin Trudeau said Canadian intelligence agencies had been working very closely with Turkey on the murder investigation.
He added: “I had a conversation with Erdogan a couple of weeks ago over the phone. Here in Paris we had brief exchanges and I thanked him for his strength in responding to the Khashoggi situation.”
When asked whether Canada had heard the purported audio recordings, PM Trudeau said “yes”. But he added that he had not listened to them personally.
According to recent reports, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canada’s spy service, travelled to Turkey to discuss the investigation and listened to the recording.
The director then briefed PM Trudeau and other Canadian officials on his visit to Turkey.
Justin Trudeau sidestepped a question about whether such evidence would have consequences for Canada’s relationship with Saudi Arabia.
“We are in discussions with our like-minded allies as to the next steps with regard Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Justin Trudeau has faced calls to cancel a $13 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia for tanks and armored fighting vehicles built by an Ontario-based unit of the American firm General Dynamics.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Canada are already strained. In August, Saudi Arabia accused Canada of violating its sovereignty and froze new trade after Canadian officials called for the release of detained civil society and women’s rights activists.
On November 12, Turkey reacted angrily after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian contradicted President Erdogan’s assertion that France had received an audio recording from the consulate and accused the Turkish leader of playing “political games”.
Jean-Yves Le Drian told France 2 television: “The truth isn’t out yet. We want to know the truth, the circumstances of his death and the identity of the culprits. Then we will take the necessary actions.
“If the Turkish president has information to give us, he must give it to us. For now, I don’t know about it.”
Asked if that meant President Erdogan was lying, the foreign minister replied: “It means that he has a political game to play in these circumstances.”
The Turkish presidency’s communications director called the comments “unacceptable” and insisted a representative of French intelligence had listened to the tape on October 24.
Fahrettin Altun told AFP: “If there is miscommunication between the French government’s various agencies, it is up to the French authorities – not Turkey – to take care of that problem.”
The reported phone call to the White House came before Saudi Arabia admitted Jamal Khashoggi had been killed.
There is still no consensus on how Jamal Khashoggi died. The journalist entered the consulate to sort out documents for his marriage.
Initially, Turkish media had quoted sources as saying Turkey had audio recordings proving that Jamal Khashoggi had been tortured before being murdered.
Last week, however, Turkey said he had been strangled immediately after entering the consulate and Jamal Kashoggi’s body dismembered “in accordance with plans made in advance”.
Nobody has been found and a Turkish official said the body had been dissolved.
Saudi Arabia has changed its account of what happened to the journalist.
When Jamal Khashoggi first disappeared, Saudi Arabia said the journalist had walked out of the building alive. Saudi Arabia later admitted he had been murdered, saying the killing was premeditated and a result of a “rogue operation”.
Eighteen suspects have been arrested in Saudi Arabia, where will be prosecuted. However, Turkey wants the suspects to be extradited.
Turkey has not publicly blamed Saudi Arabia for the killing.
President Erdogan said in a TV speech on November 10: “We gave the recordings, we gave them to Saudi Arabia, we gave them to Washington, to the Germans, to the French, to the English.”
“They listened to the conversations which took place here, they know,” he said.
No other country has admitted hearing the said recording.
Saudi Arabia has admitted journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and blamed his killing on a “rogue operation”, giving a new account of an act that sparked a global outcry.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News “the murder” had been a “tremendous mistake” and denied the powerful crown prince had ordered it.
Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Saudi government, under intense pressure to explain Jamal Khashoggi’s whereabouts, has offered conflicting accounts.
They initially said Jamal Khashoggi had left the consulate on October 2 – but on October 19 admitted for the first time he was dead, saying he had been killed in a fight. This claim met widespread skepticism.
Turkish officials believe the journalist, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, was murdered by a team of Saudi agents inside the building and say they have evidence to prove it.
Adel al-Jubeir’s comments, describing the incident as murder, are some of the most direct to come from a Saudi official.
He said: “We are determined to find out all the facts and we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder.”
“The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority,” he added.
“There obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up.”
Adel al-Jubeir also said that Saudi Arabia did not know where the body was and insisted the action had not been ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, seen as the country’s most powerful figure.
“Even the senior leadership of our intelligence service was not aware of this,” he said, calling it a “rogue operation”.
However, Yeni Safak, a media outlet close to Turkey’s government, says it has information showing that the office of the crown prince received four phone calls from the consulate after the killing.
On October 21, Reuters reported it had spoken to a Saudi official who said Jamal Khashoggi had died in a chokehold after resisting attempts to return him to Saudi Arabia. His body was then rolled in a rug and given to a local “co-operator” to dispose of.
A Saudi operative then reportedly donned Jamal Khashoggi’s clothes and left the consulate.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has made a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia amid an escalating crisis between the kingdom and Lebanon.
The president’s trip comes days after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigned while in Riyadh, saying he feared for his life.
Meanwhile, foes Saudi Arabia and Iran have accused each other of fuelling instability in Lebanon and the wider region.
Emmanuel Macron and Saudi officials also discussed the crisis in Yemen, where Riyadh is leading a war against rebels.
France has historical ties with Lebanon, as its former colonial power before it gained independence during World War Two.
President Macron was in the UAE on November 9 to open the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a spin-off of the famous Paris art museum.
Ahead of his two-hour visit to Riyadh, Emmanuel Macron said all Lebanese officials should live freely, “which means having a very demanding stance on those who could threaten any leader”.
No details of the alleged plot against Saad al-Hariri have been made public.
Uncertainty surrounds Saad al-Hariri’s circumstances, amid rumors he was being held in Riyadh.
President Macron said on November 9 he had had informal contact with Saad al-Hariri, without giving details, while the French foreign minister said France believed Saad al-Hariri was able to move freely.
On November 5, Saad al-Hariri said in a TV broadcast that he was resigning because of the unspecified threat to his life.
In the video statement, Saad al-Hariri also attacked Hezbollah, which is politically and militarily powerful in Lebanon, and Iran.
There are fears Lebanon could become embroiled in a wider regional confrontation between major Sunni power Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran.
President Macron is a keen supporter of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, which both the Saudis and the Trump administration have heavily criticized.
Before going to Saudi Arabia, Emmanuel Macron said that he had heard “very harsh opinions” on Iran from Saudi Arabia, which did not match his own view.
“It is important to speak with everyone,” the president added.
However, an official communiqué from his office following the visit did not say Iran was among the matters discussed, Le Monde reported.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia, Iran and Lebanon have soared since Saad al-Hariri announced his resignation.
On November 9, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies told their citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately. The move came after Saudi Arabia accused Iran of “direct military aggression”, saying it supplied a missile which it says was fired by Hezbollah at Riyadh from Yemen on November 5.
Iran has dismissed Saudi Arabia’s allegations as “false and dangerous”.
According to new reports, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of an act of “direct military aggression” by supplying missiles to Houthi rebels in Yemen.
This “may be considered an act of war”, Saudi Arabia state media quoted the crown prince as telling UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in a phone conversation.
On November 4, a ballistic missile was intercepted near Riyadh.
Iran has denied arming the Houthi movement, which is fighting a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s government.
On November 6, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Saudi Arabia’s “wars of aggression” and “regional bullying” were threatening the Middle East.
Houthi-aligned media reported that the rebels had fired a Burkan H2 ballistic missile at King Khaled International Airport, which is about 530 miles from the Yemeni border and 7 miles north-east of Riyadh, on November 4.
Saudi media reported that missile defenses intercepted the missile in flight, but that some missile fragments fell inside the airport area. No casualties were reported.
Human Rights Watch said the launch of an indiscriminate missile at a predominantly civilian airport was an apparent war crime.
On November 7, the official Saudi Press Agency (SAP) reported that in his telephone call with Prince Mohammed, Boris Johnson had “expressed his condemnation of launching a ballistic missile by Houthi coup militias” and affirmed “Britain’s stand with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in confronting security threats”.
“For his part, the crown prince stressed that the involvement of the Iranian regime in supplying its Houthi militias with missiles is considered a direct military aggression by the Iranian regime and may be considered an act of war against the kingdom,” it added.
On November 6, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told CNN that Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, an Iranian proxy, was also involved.
“It was an Iranian missile launched by Hezbollah from territory occupied by the Houthis in Yemen,” he said.
Iran has rejected “unfounded accusations” by Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanon’s prime minister citing Tehran’s “grip” on his country and threats to his life.
It says the surprise resignation of Lebanese prime minister is part of a plot to stoke tensions in the region.
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei accused the United States and Saudi Arabia of being behind the move.
Saad al-Hariri announced his resignation in a TV broadcast from Saudi Arabia, accusing Iran of sowing “fear and destruction” in several countries, including Lebanon.
He said he was stepping down because he feared for his life.
Saad al-Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, was assassinated in 2005.
Correspondents say Saad al-Hariri’s sudden departure plunges Lebanon into a new political crisis and raises fears that it may be at the forefront of the regional rivalry between Shia power Iran and Sunni stronghold Saudi Arabia.
Following the statement on November 4, Iranian politicians lined up to denounce Saad al-Hariri’s assertions.
Hussein Sheikh al-Islam, adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Kahmenei, said: “Hariri’s resignation was done with planning by [President] Donald Trump and Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.”
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi, quoted by the official Irna news agency, said Saad al-Hariri’s departure was aimed at creating tension in Lebanon and the region.
Bahram Qasemi said Saad al-Hariri had repeated “unrealistic and unfounded accusations” and had aligned himself with “those who want ill for the region”, singling out Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US.
Saad al-Hariri, whose family is close to Saudi Arabia, has been prime minister since December 2016, after previously holding the position between 2009 and 2011.
His father, Rafik al-Hariri was killed by a bomb in 2005 in an attack widely blamed on the Iran-backed Shia movement Hezbollah, which wields considerable power in Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia has intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen, after a loud explosion was heard near Riyadh airport on November 4.
According to officials, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency, the missile was destroyed over the capital and fragments landed in the airport area.
A TV channel linked to Houthi rebels in Yemen said the missile was fired at the King Khalid International Airport.
The Saudi civil aviation authority said that air traffic was not disrupted.
Saudi forces have reported shooting down Houthi missiles in the past, though none has come so close to a major population centre.
Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen, said: “The missile was launched indiscriminately to target the civilian and populated areas.
“Shattered fragments from the intercepted missile landed in an uninhabited area of the airport and there were no injuries.”
Witnesses reported seeing parts of the missile in the airport’s car park, Al-Arabiya reported.
Residents in the north of Riyadh said their windows were rattled by a loud blast that was followed by the roar of low-flying aircraft.
The Houthi-run Saba News in Yemen said the missile had been a Burkan H2.
The rebel group is believed to have access to a stockpile of Scud ballistic missiles and home-grown variants. Saudi forces have previously brought them down with Patriot surface-to-air missiles bought from the US.
In May, a day before President Donald Trump was due to arrive in Riyadh for a visit, the Houthis fired a missile towards the city, but it was shot down 120 miles from the capital.
Yemen has been devastated by a war between forces loyal to the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement.
Saudi Arabia is leading a campaign to defeat the Houthis, and is the biggest power in an international air coalition that has bombed the rebel group since 2015.
On November 1, a suspected strike by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 26 people at a hotel and market in northern Yemen, medics and local officials said.
The coalition, which rights groups say has bombed schools, hospitals, markets and residential areas, said it struck a “legitimate military target”.
Eleven Saudi princes, four sitting ministers and dozens of former ministers have been detained by Saudi Arabia’s new anticorruption body, local media reports say.
Those detained were not named and it is not clear what they are suspected of.
However, local broadcaster Al-Arabiya said fresh investigations had been launched into the 2009 Jeddah floods and the outbreak of the MERS virus which emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
The detentions came hours after the new anti-corruption committee was formed.
The anti-corruption committee is headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and has the power to issue arrest warrants and travel bans, the state-owned Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Separately, the heads of the Saudi National Guard and the navy were replaced in a series of high-profile sackings.
According to SPA, King Salman had dismissed National Guard minister Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and navy commander Admiral Abdullah bin Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Sultan.
No official explanation was given for their removal.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently said the return of “moderate Islam” was key to his plans to modernize Saudi Arabia.
Addressing an economic conference in Riyadh, the crown prince vowed to “eradicate the remnants of extremism very soon”.
In 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled a wide-ranging plan to bring social and economic change to Saudi Arabia.
Lebanon’s PM Saad al-Hariri has announced his resignation in a TV broadcast from Saudi Arabia.
Saad al-Hariri also said that he feared for his life, while fiercely criticizing Iran.
He accused Iran of sowing “fear and destruction” in several countries, including Lebanon.
Saad al-Hariri’s father, former PM Rafik al-Hariri, was assassinated in 2005.
The Hariri family is close to Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional competitor.
Saad al- Hariri has been prime minister since December 2016, after previously holding the position between 2009 and 2011.
“We are living in a climate similar to the atmosphere that prevailed before the assassination of martyr Rafik al-Hariri,” he said in the broadcast from Riyadh.
“I have sensed what is being plotted covertly to target my life.”
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani was in Kuwait on July 3 to hand over a formal response in the form of a letter from the emir of Qatar to the emir of Kuwait, the main mediator in the Gulf crisis.
Image source Wikimedia
In a statement released shortly beforehand, lawyers for Qatar denounced the demands and called for international condemnation.
They said the tactics were “reminiscent of the extreme and punitive conduct of <<bully>> states that have historically resulted in war.
“The world must unite immediately to halt the singling out of Qatar for unjustified collective punishment and humiliation and to preserve peace, security and prosperity in the region.”
Qatar has been under unprecedented diplomatic and economic sanctions for weeks from Saudi Arabia and its allies, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.
The four Gulf countries, whose foreign ministers will meet on July 5 to discuss the situation, have accused Qatar of harboring Islamist groups that they consider terrorist organizations – including the Muslim Brotherhood – and giving them a platform on the Al Jazeera satellite channel, which is funded by the Qatari state. Doha denies the accusations.
The imposed restrictions have caused turmoil in Qatar, an oil- and gas-rich nation dependent on imports to meet the basic needs of its population of 2.7 million. As a result, Iran and Turkey have been increasingly supplying it with food and other goods.
An unnamed official from one of the four countries told Reuters that Qatar was also being asked to sever links with so-called Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah.
The demands have not been officially unveiled. Their publication has increased the friction between the two sides.
Oil price has surged after reports that OPEC members have agreed some details of a production cut.
Oil prices rose nearly 7% as energy ministers attended November 30 OPEC meeting in Vienna.
Ahead of the meeting Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih had said “there are good chances” a formal deal could be struck.
Two months ago, oil ministers had said full details of the agreement would be finalized at the meeting.
OPEC pledged to limit production by about 700,000 barrels a day, but said Iran would be allowed to increase production.
Oil prices rose then, but the absence of detail prompted some traders to have second thoughts about whether the cartel would actually take firm action.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to cut output by about 500,000 barrels per day at the meeting, Reuters reported.
That would take its output to 10.06 million barrels per day.
Reuters also reported that OPEC has agreed to suspend Indonesia’s membership to allow Iran to set new production levels at 3.797 million barrels per day.
Ahead of November 30meeting, Khalid Al-Falih said “there are good chances” that a detailed deal can be brokered, and that “the spirit is good”.
The Saudi energy minister said his country would have to “take a big cut and a big hit” to current production – and its 2017 forecast – if OPEC production were limited to 32.5 million barrels per day.
“So we will not do it unless we make sure that there is consensus,” Khalid Al-Falih added.
A production freeze for Iran at pre-sanctions levels would be “very considerate of other OPEC members when they’re having to cut,” he said.
“Iran has recovered to its pre-sanctions levels,” Khalid Al-Falih said.
Saudi Arabia has also been discussing a production cut with Russia, he added.
Brent crude rose 6.9% to $50.58 per barrel, while US crude also rose 6.7% to $48.25.
Traders said markets were jittery and prices could swing sharply in either direction depending on developments in Vienna.
A decision to cut has been hindered by a rivalry between Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s top producer, and Iran.
The Saudis have been hesitant to shoulder the lion’s share of a cut, while Iran has resisted reducing its own production, arguing it has yet to recover its output levels after years of sanctions.
Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir of Saudi Arabia has been executed for shooting dead a man during a brawl three years ago in the capital Riyadh, the interior ministry has said.
The prince was put to death in the capital. No details were given as to how he was executed, but most condemned people are beheaded.
Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir is the 134th person to be put to death this year, according to a list compiled by the AFP news agency.
It is rare for royal family members to be executed, correspondents say.
Image source Flickr
Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir had pleaded guilty to shooting his compatriot, the interior ministry statement said.
Announcing the execution, the ministry said it would assure everyone the government was “keen to preserve security and achieve justice”.
The victim’s family refused offers of “blood money” by which they would receive financial compensation in return for not demanding the death sentence, Al-Arabiya reported.
One of the most well-known cases of a Saudi royal being executed was that of Faisal bin Musaid al Saud, who assassinated his uncle, King Faisal, in 1975.
Most people executed in Saudi Arabia are convicted for murder and drug trafficking although nearly 50 people were put to death for “terrorism” on a single day in January including the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Saudi Arabia is concerned that 9/11 relatives will be able to sue the kingdom for damages, the foreign ministry says.
On September 28, the Congress voted for a law allowing families of nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks to sue.
In doing so they overrode a veto by President Barack Obama, who said it would set a “dangerous precedent”.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers that day were Saudi nationals, but Saudi Arabia has denied any role in the attacks.
In a statement, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said: “The erosion of sovereign immunity will have a negative impact on all nations, including the United States.”
Their argument parallels the one made by Barack Obama.
The president said on CNN after the vote that the law set a “dangerous precedent” and could lead to the US being opened to “a situation where we’re suddenly exposed to liabilities for all the work that we’re doing all around the world and suddenly finding ourselves subject to private lawsuits”.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Republican Party in Congress have said they want to reconsider the law. The Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell admitted that lawmakers had not understood the possible consequences of the legislation.
“Everybody was aware of who the potential beneficiaries were but nobody really had focused on the downside in terms of our international relationships,” he said.
The White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it was “a pretty classic case of rapid onset buyer’s remorse”.
On CNN, Barack Obama also suggested that that voting patterns in Congress were influenced by political concerns.
“If you’re perceived as voting against 9/11 families right before an election, not surprisingly, that’s a hard vote for people to take,” he said.
“But it would have been the right thing to do.”
Saudi Arabia, the US key ally in the Middle East, had lobbied furiously against the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism (Jasta) legislation.
It has stopped short of specifying how it might retaliate but has called on Congress to reverse the decision.
Relatives of those killed in 9/11 have welcomed the bill’s passing.
“We rejoice in this triumph and look forward to our day in court and a time when we may finally get more answers regarding who was truly behind the attacks,” said Terry Strada, national chair of the 9/11 Families & Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism.
Oil price has climbed by about 3% after Russia and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement to look for ways to stabilize the oil market.
The announcement was made by energy ministers Alexander Novak and Khalid al-Falih.
The price of Brent crude oil rose by $1.28 on the news to $48.11 a barrel.
A statement said the plan was to support the “stability of the oil market… ensuring a stable level of investment in the long term.”
The start of 2016 saw the price of oil fell to its lowest level in nearly 13 years due to a production glut and is still far below the $110 a barrel price recorded just two years ago.
Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said the agreement, which might include attempts to limit oil output, was a “historical moment” between members of OPEC, which is the traditional oil producers’ cartel, and non-members, of which Russia is one.
He said that Russia was willing to join an oil output “freeze”.
His Saudi counterpart Khalid al-Falih told Al Arabiya TV: “Freezing [production levels] is one of the preferred possibilities but it’s not necessary today.
“The market is getting better and we have noticed that prices reflect this [improvement].”
Strategies to keep prices high by limiting production are usually the preserve of OPEC and are often not successful.
However, Russia and Saudi Arabia are the world’s two largest oil producers.
Alexander Novak and Khalid al-Falih will meet again later this month and again in October and November.
The outline agreement, to set up a joint task force, was publicized at a news conference at the G20 summit taking place in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
The agreement to talk about a deal, despite the lack of detail, was welcomed by two other oil producers.
Kuwait’s acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh: “This dialogue confirms that the main oil producers are watching the oil market… to help achieve stability.”
UAE’s energy minister Suhail al-Mazroui tweeted: “UAE, as an active and responsible member of OPEC will always support any joint efforts which will benefit market stability.”
Three suicide attacks hit Saudi Arabia on July 4, including one near Islam’s second holiest site.
Four guards were killed near the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, while only the bombers died in Jeddah and Qatif.
No group has yet said it was behind the attacks, but suspicion has fallen on ISIS.
The Sunni Muslim jihadist group has called for the overthrow of the Saudi monarchy and its supporters have previously carried out bombings in the Gulf state, targeting the Shia minority community and security forces.
ISIS has also claimed a series of deadly attacks in the predominantly Muslim countries of Turkey, Bangladesh and Iraq during the holy month of Ramadan.
In July 4 first bombing, two security officers were wounded when a man detonated an explosive vest he was wearing near the US consulate in the coastal city of Jeddah shortly after midnight.
An interior ministry spokesman identified the assailant as a 35-year-old Pakistani expat called Abdullah Qalzar Khan, who it said had worked as a private driver in Jeddah for 12 years.
The second attack took place near dusk outside a Shia mosque in the mainly Shia eastern city of Qatif.
A resident told the Reuters news agency that there were believed to be no casualties apart from the bomber, as worshippers had already left to break their daylight Ramadan fasts.
However, the interior ministry spokesman said the remains of three people had been found and were being identified, without providing any details.
Not long afterwards, another bomber struck near the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, where thousands of worshippers had gathered for the Maghrib prayers.
On July 5, the Senior Council of Ulema issued a statement saying those behind the three attacks, whom it described as “renegades”, “have no respect for any sanctity and they have no religion or conscience”.
The head of the Shura Council, Saudi Arabia’s main advisory body, said the attack was “unprecedented”.
The Grand Sheikh of Cairo’s al-Azhar University, the leading religious institute in the Sunni Muslim world, also stressed “the sanctity of the houses of God, especially the Prophet’s Mosque”.
The foreign minister of Shia power Iran, Saudi Arabia’s main regional rival,tweeted: “There are no more red lines left for terrorists to cross. Sunnis, Shiites will both remain victims unless we stand united as one. #Medina.”
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Interior Minister, Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, meanwhile sought to reassure his fellow citizens, saying: “The security of the homeland is good, it is at its highest levels and thanks be to God it gets stronger every day.”
According to the official Saudi Press Agency, the prince made the statement while visiting the security officers wounded in the Jeddah bombing.
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