Saudi Arabia Rejects US Intelligence Report On Jamal Khashoggi's Death

Jamal Khashoggi. (Wikimedia Commons/April Brady)

JAKARTA - Saudi Arabia has denied the findings of a US report claiming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A recently opened US intelligence report released on Friday claims the Saudi crown prince may approve an operation to kill or arrest journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry responded in a statement saying it completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the document, which it claims includes false information.

"The people concerned have been convicted and sentenced by a court in the Kingdom, and this sentence is welcomed by Jamal Khashoggi's family, may he rest in peace," the statement read.

The report could increase pressure on President Joe Biden's government to hold the kingdom to account for an assassination that has sparked bipartisan and international outrage.

The main conclusions of the report are widely expected, given intelligence officials are said to have reached them in the immediate aftermath of October 2, 2018, brutal killing of Saudi native Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The international community repeated calls for accountability after the report was released. Foreign Office in a statement calling for a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation to hold them accountable and to impose sanctions on the 20 Saudis involved in the killing.

"The Foreign Minister raised this issue during his visit to Riyadh last year, and we continue to raise it in our engagement with the Saudi government," said the British Foreign Office.

Agnes Callamard, the UN's special rapporteur on the extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, said in a Facebook post that the report confirmed the guilt of Saudi officials at the highest level.

"The United States must now take the lead in ensuring accountability for these crimes, as well as in establishing international mechanisms to prevent and punish such acts in the future," she wrote.

"The United States government should impose sanctions on the Crown Prince, as it has done against other perpetrators, targeting his personal assets but also his international involvement," she added.

Neither the Saudis nor the US mentioned the report, which is expected to be opened and released to the public soon, but the US president said earlier in the week that he had read it.

It is known that Khashoggi visited the Saudi consulate in Turkey to collect the documents needed for his marriage before he died and sparked controversy.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in 2019 he took full responsibility for the killings because they occurred under his watch, but denied ordering them. Saudi officials say Khashoggi's murder was the job of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials.

A Saudi Arabian court last year announced that it had sentenced eight Saudi nationals to prison for the murder of Khashoggi. They were not identified.