The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, supported the Saudi stance rejecting the American report concerning the involvement of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sputnik reported today that Aboul Gheit affirmed that the Saudi judicial authorities are solely responsible for holding those involved in the Khashoggi case accountable. He expressed his support for the statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry, which rejected the conclusions of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's report regarding the case. Aboul Gheit noted that “U.S. intelligence is not an international judge or decision-maker,” emphasizing that human rights issues should not be politicized.
The U.S. intelligence had announced in a report, published yesterday, that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence believes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally approved the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The report stated: "According to our assessments, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi." The report indicated that the Crown Prince considered Khashoggi a threat to the Kingdom and agreed to measures to silence him.
Saudi Arabia responded to the U.S. report by saying it categorically rejects it and deemed that the report “contained incorrect conclusions about the leadership of the Kingdom and cannot be accepted,” stressing Saudi Arabia's condemnation of the crime of murdering Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi was killed in October 2018 during his visit to the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Turkish officials stated that he was killed by a Saudi team of 15 men who strangled him and dismembered his body, which has not been found. Ultimately, Saudi authorities admitted to Khashoggi’s murder in the consulate at the hands of Saudis, emphasizing that it occurred without the knowledge of the top leadership.
In May 2020, Khashoggi's children announced they had “pardoned” their father’s killers. In September, a court in Riyadh issued final rulings in the Khashoggi case, sentencing eight convicted individuals to prison terms ranging from 20 to 7 years, in a withdrawal from earlier sentences that had condemned five of them to death.
