A report by the US’ intelligence community states that Saudi Crown Prince Momhammed bin Salman approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. The brief report restates what activists have long claimed.
“We assess that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” reads the report, which was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday.
The report cites Prince Mohammed’s “control of decisionmaking in the Kingdom,” as well as the involvement of some of his security detail, as proof that he approved the murder.
Activists have long accused the prince of orchestrating the killing, and the report backs up their claims. However, it does so without providing any concrete evidence. Prince Mohammed’s involvement is only an “assessment,” while the spies could only conclude that at the time of the murder, he “probably fostered an environment” in which his aides didn’t question his orders, and declared it “highly unlikely” that the operation would have been carried out without his blessing.
Against such accusations, the Saudi royal has already responded. He denied ordering the murder, but apologized in 2019 for allowing it to happen “under [his] watch.”
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