Sayeed Muhammad of DOT : At least six top US senators from across party lines introduced a resolution to hold the Saudi crown prince accountable for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The proposal, which was introduced on Wednesday, says the Senate “has a high level of confidence” that Mohammed bin Salman, well known as MBS, “was complicit in the murder”, reports Reuters. If cleared by the Senate, it would officially condemn MBS for the killing of Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul in October. “This resolution – without
equivocation – definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardising our national security interests on multiple fronts,” Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator said in a statement.
The move by the US senators came after Istanbul’s chief prosecutor filed warrants for the arrest of a top aide to MBS and the deputy head of the kingdom’s foreign intelligence on suspicion of planning the murder.
Khashogg was a Washington Post columnist and a critic of the crown prince and Saudi royal family.
Saudi Arabia claimed the crown prince had no prior knowledge of the murder. After offering numerous contradictory explanations, Riyadh later confessed that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate and his body was dismembered after negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.
The US move came a day after some senators said there is “zero chance” MBS was not involved in Khashoggi’s murder following a closed-door briefing by CIA Director Gina Haspel.
The CIA has reportedly assessed that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
Our time is a news portal