Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, by operatives of the Saudi government. He lived in exile in the US; he wanted to marry and needed some paperwork from the Kingdom. He had allegedly received assurances from the crown prince’s brother, Prince Khalid bin Salman, who was ambassador to the US at the time, that it would be safe to visit the consulate. Prince Khalid has since denied any communication with the journalist.
He went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and never came back. The Saudi prosecutors report that he was assassinated mercilessly. Khashoggi’s body parts were evidently incinerated in the basement and the consulate had ordered about 30kg of meat from a local restaurant to cook, so that the smell would cover up for the horrible corpse fumes.
The CIA did a thorough inquiry for almost 6 weeks and drafted a report. But the report was kept strictly confidential.
Why? We all know the warm relations of the then President Donald Trump and the Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. However, the current man in the White house Joe Biden, did what was left undone by his predecessor and made the report public. The White House has released the report that the Trump administration had withheld. It says that US intelligence believes the crown prince was behind Khashoggi’s murder.
The US report says: “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul to ‘capture or kill’ exiled Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
Since 2017 all the control of security and intelligence is in MBS’ hands. So it is safe to say that the operation was given a royal nod by the young prince. The report also claims that a team of 15 Saudis flew to Istanbul in a private jet before the execution of the plan. The team included a forensic expert and also Mr. Saud Al Qahtani, who is one of the top advisors of MBS, and 7 other trained guards of the Saudi Royal Guards’ unit known as The Rapid Intervention Force (RIF).
Saudi Arabia rejected the report, calling it “negative, false and unacceptable”.
The fear of this report being made public also led to a secret yet historic meeting between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel has good influence in the US and the Saudi Kingdom wants it on its side.
Jamal’s fearless fiancée Hatice Cengiz has released a statement, saying; “It is essential that the crown prince, who ordered the brutal murder of a blameless and innocent person, should be punished without delay… Starting with the Biden administration, it is vital for all world leaders to ask themselves if they are prepared to shake hands with a person whose capability as a murderer has been proven, but not yet punished.”
“I urge everyone to put their hands on their hearts and campaign to punish the crown prince,” she added.
The US administration says it is taking the best course of action to prevent Saudi Arabia and others from murdering journalists. However, the Biden administration has declared that MBS is too important to sanction. The administration has put 76 Saudi citizens on a no-travel list and has imposed financial sanctions on Saudi officials involved in the murder of Khashoggi based on this report, out of which MBS has been left out. This decision has drawn harsh criticism. A United Nations special rapporteur has called the inaction against MBS “extremely worrisome”.
Still just 35 years old, poised for the throne, what’s next for the brand called MBS?

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Mohammad Tazeem