News

Mohammad bin Salman: Khashoggi murder ‘happened under my watch’

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has broken his silence in the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, saying he bears responsibility “because it happened under my watch” – but without his knowledge, according to a new documentary.

The CIA has concluded that the kingdom’s de facto ruler ordered his operatives to kill the 59-year-old Washington Post columnist in October 2018 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was strangled and mutilated.

Saudi Arabia has insisted that bin Salman had no role in the slaughter of the royal insider-turned-outspoken critic, who went to the consulate to pick up papers ahead of his wedding. His remains have not been found.

“It happened under my watch,” the prince said in a PBS “Frontline” documentary — “The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia” — set to premiere at 8 p.m. Tuesday. “I get all the responsibility, because it happened under my watch.”





The death sparked a global outcry, tarnishing the crown prince’s image and endangering ambitious plans to diversify the economy of the world’s top oil exporter and open up the kingdom’s cloistered society.

Since the killing, bin Salman has not set foot in the United States or Europe.

After initial denials, Riyadh blamed the murder on rogue operatives. The public prosecutor said the then-deputy intelligence chief ordered the repatriation of Khashoggi, but the lead negotiator ordered him killed after discussions for his return collapsed.

Saud al-Qahtani — a former top royal adviser who Reuters reported gave orders over Skype to the assassins — briefed the hit team on the journalist’s activities before the operation, the prosecutor said.





Asked by “Frontline” correspondent Martin Smith how the killing could happen without his knowledge, bin Salman said: “We have 20 million people. We have 3 million government employees.”

Smith asked during his December interview whether the killers could have taken private government jets.

“I have officials, ministers to follow things, and they’re responsible. They have the authority to do that,” bin Salman responded.

A senior US administration official told Reuters recently that the Trump administration was pressing Riyadh for “tangible progress” toward holding to account those responsible for the killing.

Eleven Saudi suspects have been put on trial in secretive proceedings but only a few hearings have been held.

In June, a scathing report by the UN’s special rapporteur Agnes Callamard called for bin Salman and other senior Saudi officials to be investigated.





“It is the conclusion of the special rapporteur that Mr. Khashoggi has been the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law,” she said.

Although Callamard said she found no “smoking gun” evidence incriminating the crown prince, she said he almost certainly was aware that a criminal mission targeting Khashoggi was being planned.





Share this: