Senior US envoy raised Khashoggi murder with top Saudi figures: US official
Senior US envoy raised Khashoggi murder with top Saudi figures: US official
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and other US officials travelled to Riyadh on 28 September to meet with Mohammed bin Salman and other top Saudi figures.
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Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed over three years ago [Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty]
A US delegation led by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan brought up the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in talks with leading Saudi Arabian officials last week, a senior US official said on Monday.
Sullivan, Middle East envoy Brett McGurk and other US officials met in Riyadh on 28 September with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top Saudi officials.
The main point of the talks was to discuss the conflict in Yemen and ways to arrange a ceasefire.
But a senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters about the visit to Washington this week of Israel's national security adviser, Eyal Hulata, said the US delegation also brought up the case of Khashoggi specifically and human rights in general.
Khashoggi, a Saudi-born US resident who wrote opinion columns for The Washington Post critical of bin Salman, was killed and dismembered by a team of operatives linked to the prince in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
The Saudi government has denied any involvement by the crown prince, but a US intelligence report concluded in February that bin Salman had approved of an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi.
It has been 3 years since #JamalKhashoggi was murdered.
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 2, 2021
His widow has urged the US to hold the Saudis to account for his death at a candlelight vigil marking the anniversary. https://t.co/XWaBy5E2jF
US President Joe Biden has worked to recalibrate US relations with Saudi Arabia after the friendly ties his predecessor, Donald Trump, had with bin Salman and other Saudi officials.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Saturday, the third anniversary of Khashoggi's death, "We have taken steps to prevent such a reprehensible crime from happening again," including launching a coordinated effort to prevent and respond to any government targeting journalists, activists and dissidents beyond its borders.
(Reuters)
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