The bride of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Monday that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be punished “without delay” after the release of a US intelligence report that concluded the powerful Saudi king approved the murder.
“If the Crown Prince is not punished, it will forever be a sign that the main culprit can escape with impunity from a murder that will put us all in danger and will be a stain on our humanity,” said Hatice Cengiz in a statement published in Twitter early Monday. “It will be the greatest shame for humanity if justice is finally denied.”
Cengiz, a Turkish national, was responding to a long-awaited American intelligence report, made public on Friday, which concluded that Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, approved an operation in Istanbul to capture or kill Khashoggi.
“We based this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decision-making in the Kingdom,” said the report, “the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammed bin Salman’s protection team in the operation and the Crown Prince’s support for the use of violence measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi. “
Although the general conclusion of the report was first reported two years ago, President Joe Biden disqualified him, reversing a decision by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken also announced that 76 Saudi individuals who allegedly harassed dissidents were subject to visa restrictions, and the Treasury Department sanctioned the Rapid Intervention Force, or RIF, and a former deputy chief. of Saudi intelligence.
“Those involved in the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi must be held responsible,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “The United States joins journalists and political dissidents in opposing threats of violence and intimidation.”
However, in an interview with The Mehdi Hasan Show on Sunday and in his public statement on Monday, Cengiz expressed his frustration that no further action was taken.
“I want to thank Mr. President Biden and his administration for publishing this report,” Cengiz told Hasan. “I think it is a very important and huge step now, but it is not enough, without action it will be meaningless.”
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“Now we have the truth … now it’s time to act,” she said.
Cengiz did not specify how he would like the Biden government to hold the Crown Prince accountable. In her written statement, she called for the Crown Prince to be punished and for world leaders to rethink whether they are prepared to shake hands with “a person whose guilt as a murderer has been proven but has not yet been punished”.
Asked by Hasan what message she would like to send to the Crown Prince, Cengiz said: “He will never get away with it and that will haunt him for the rest of his life.”
Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a permanent resident of the United States, was killed and quartered by a team of intelligence agents with close ties to the Crown Prince at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. His remains were never found.
In 2019, Cengiz told NBC News that he had moved to London to distance himself from the “crime scene” in Istanbul and to learn English. It is not clear whether she still lives in the city. Your Twitter profile says she is a researcher interested in the culture and practices of Oman, based between Turkey and Oman.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement through the country’s state news agency on Friday, saying the Saudi government “categorically rejects abusive and incorrect conclusions” in the kingdom’s leadership report.
“The Kingdom has condemned this heinous crime and its leadership has taken the necessary steps to ensure that such an unfortunate incident does not recur in the future,” he added.
The Crown Prince said the murder was carried out without his knowledge, but in a 2019 interview with PBS’s “Frontline”, he said, “I take full responsibility because it happened under my supervision”.
That year, eight men were also convicted of Khashoggi’s murder in a Saudi Arabian court – a trial considered a farce by many international observers.
Five were sentenced to death, but these were commuted to 20 years after they were allegedly pardoned by Khashoggi’s relatives.
A former Saudi ambassador to Washington, Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, told Lebanese news agency ASAS on Monday that “the issue of Khashoggi’s assassination is closed”.
The former ambassador said the CIA was unable to confirm the intent behind the murder and said the kingdom had admitted the moral responsibility of Crown Prince Mohammed in the case.
“There was a trial that resulted in a conviction and other acquittals,” he told the Lebanese news agency. “The crime has hurt all Saudis,” he added.
Peter Jeary and Alfred Arian contributed.