Adel al-Jubeir speaks during a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart in Madrid during an official visit to Spain on November 17, 2017. AFP/Gabriel Bouys

By Vakkas Dogantekin I Reuters

ANKARA: Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia's minister of state of foreign affairs, has compared the process that led to last year’s murder of Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi to the many rights abuses committed at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Abu Ghraib was a U.S. Army detention center that housed captured Iraqis from 2003 to 2006.

Answering Margaret Brennan’s questions on "Face the Nation" on Sunday, al-Jubeir conceded that Khashoggi’s untimely death late last year had been a "massive tragedy".

"It was a mistake,” he said. "It was committed by officials of the Saudi government acting outside their scope of authority.”

Faced with repeated demands for details of the murder and questions regarding the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body, al-Jubeir cited recent examples of rights abuses committed by U.S. forces based overseas.

"At Abu Ghraib, you had people abusing prisoners -- and the president, vice-president and secretary of state were not even aware of it,” he said.

"Unfortunately, people make mistakes,” he added. "Unfortunately, people exceed their authorities.”

Al-Jubeir went on to assert that the Saudi authorities did not know the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body.

On Dec. 27, al-Jubeir was replaced as foreign minister by Ibrahim al-Assaf. The move came as part of a cabinet reshuffle ordered by King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

An occasional contributor to The Washington Post, Khashoggi went missing after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After producing contradictory explanations, Riyadh acknowledged that he had been killed inside the consulate, blaming the act on a botched rendition operation by rogue agents.

Turkey has sought the extradition of the Saudi nationals involved in the murder, along with a full account of the incident from the Saudi leadership.

Share this post





Read also

Read More Apple iPhone sales in China fell by a fifth in Q4 -IDC 11 Feb 2019 - 18:13 Apple Inc iPhone sales in China fell 20 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018, while sales for smartphones made by home-grown rival Huawei soared by 23 percent, data from industry research firm IDC showed on Monday.

Read More Saudis don't know where Khashoggi's body is: foreign minister 10 Feb 2019 - 20:23 Saudi authorities do not know where dissident Jamal Khashoggi's body is despite having in custody the Saudi team that murdered him, the kingdom's foreign minister said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Read More Saudi named in report on Khashoggi murder becomes UAE envoy 10 Feb 2019 - 18:30 A top aide who reportedly heard Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman threaten to use "a bullet” on Jamal Khashoggi was sworn in Sunday as the kingdom’s new ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

Read More Apple, Google slammed for hosting Saudi woman-tracking app 09 Feb 2019 - 16:08 Apple and Google are facing criticism from human rights activists for hosting an app that allows men in Saudi Arabia to track and control women's movements.

Read More Saudi crown prince threatened to use 'bullet' on Khashoggi a year before killing: New York Times 08 Feb 2019 - 20:10 A year before Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told an aide he would use "a bullet" on the journalist if he did not return home and end his criticism of the government, the New York Times reported on Thursday.