PM Modi, Saudi Crown Prince MBS hold bilateral talks; defence, trade corridor top agenda
Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, who is on a three-day state visit to India, Monday held…
A Saudi Arabian minister has slammed UN expert’s report for claiming that there was “credible evidence” that the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-level officials were individually involved for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the allegations were baseless.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Member of the Cabinet Adel Al-Jubeir told Saudi Press Agency on Wednesday that it “regrettably, presented many unfounded accusations, including the violation of a number of international conventions, and is totally unacceptable to the leadership of the Kingdom”.
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Saudi journalist and columnist for the Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
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The murder caused international outrage and provoked condemnation of the 33-year-old Crown Prince, also known as MBS. Saudi authorities, however, insist they were not acting on the Crown Prince’s orders.
Saudi minister Adel Al-Jubei further said that the report was intended to “undermine the Kingdom and its leadership” and that it “lacked credibility”.
“The false allegations contained in the report are based on preconceived ideas and positions of Agnes Callamard regarding the Kingdom,” he said referring to the UN extrajudicial executions investigator who released her report on the killing of the Saudi journalist.
The Minister added that Saudi Arabia “will never accept any attempt to harm its sovereignty and that it categorically rejects any attempt to derail this issue of Khashoggi’s murder”.
Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate on 2 October to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage. His body has never been found.
After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted the 59-year-old had been murdered at the mission in a “rogue” operation.
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