Saudi "Completely Rejects" US Assessment Which Pins Crown Prince For Khashoggi Murder

"It is truly unfortunate that this report, with its unjustified and inaccurate conclusions..." said Saudi foreign ministry in a statement after a declassified US report found Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

Image Source (AFP & AP)

New Delhi: On Friday Saudi Arabia said that it "completely rejects" a declassified US report which finds that the de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's in 2018. 

According to an AFP report, the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement "the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the kingdom's leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions." 

Saudi Arabia has vehemently denied the crown prince's involvement and said that the murder was a result of a rogue operation. 

On Friday, President Joe Biden's administration released a partially redacted report the US intelligence concluded that the prince "approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Khashoggi," according to the AFP report. 

After which the Saudi foreign ministry issued a statement, saying "it is truly unfortunate that this report, with its unjustified and inaccurate conclusions, is issued while the kingdom had clearly denounced this heinous crime, and the kingdom's leadership took the necessary steps to ensure that such a tragedy never takes place again," the AFP report quoted. It added, "the kingdom rejects any measure that infringes upon its leadership, sovereignty, and the independence of its judicial system."

Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist and a staunch critic of Prince Mohammed. He fled to the US in June 2017 and in September, he published an article in the Washington Post in which he advocated for reform in his country and criticized the prince. In 2018, he was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 and murdered by a 15 member Saudi squad.

The US report said that given Prince Mohammed's influence, it was "highly unlikely" that the murder could have taken place without his green light, AFP reported. 

In 2019, the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman broke his silence and said that he bears responsibility for the killing. He said "It happened under my watch. I get all the responsibility, because it happened under my watch," the Crown Prince, also known as MBS, told American public broadcaster PBS, according to a preview of a documentary to be aired on October 1, ahead of the first anniversary of the journalist's death. The Crown Prince, however, reiterated that the incident happened without his knowledge, Anadolu news agency reported citing the broadcaster.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday also announced a ban on 76 Saudi individuals saying it will not tolerate individuals who threaten or assault activists, dissidents and journalists on behalf of foreign governments. According to a Reuters report, Blinken announced a “Khashoggi Ban,” a visa restriction policy “on individuals who, acting on behalf of a foreign government, are believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities.” This was followed after the report stating that the Saudi government was responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.