Jamal Khashoggi assassination: US pressure on Saudi Arabia to undertake reforms to stop targeting the opposition

The Biden administration is criticized for failing to impose direct sanctions on the Saudi crown prince.

But Price has made it clear that imposing direct sanctions on bin Salman, “the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia,” could undermine his country’s influence over its important ally in the Middle East.

The spokesperson for the US State Department confirmed that there were direct sanctions imposed by Washington on the assistants of the Saudi crown prince and the security unit under his command.

He said he would not review the names of those who are barred from entering the United States in the future, saying: “I do not know of any plans for the Saudi Crown Prince to come to the United States in the future. the near future. “

Biden said earlier that his administration was seeking to “reconsider” its position on the decades-old alliance with Saudi Arabia, stressing that the United States will stop supporting hostilities in the context of the Saudi war in Yemen.

The intelligence report, which Biden ordered to reveal last Friday after being classified as a “confidential report” under the tenure of former US President Donald Trump, indicated that Prince Mohammed bin Salman had agreed in 2018 to kill Khashoggi on the journalist collaborating with the Washington Post. , after being lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where his body was strangled and severed, and it has yet to be found.

The report also revealed that seven of the 15 people who were members of the killing team that carried out Khashoggi’s assassination belong to the Intelligence Rapid Response Unit, which “only commands the order of Bin Salman “.

A few days ago, the United States imposed sanctions on the Rapid Intervention Forces, including preventing 76 Saudis from entering the United States and criminalizing any American dealings with them, as part of a new policy. American targeting officials who tighten the screws on dissent.

For its part, the Saudi government condemned the American report, stressing what it had already said in this regard, namely that the assassination of Khashoggi was an operation carried out by rogue elements and that the Saudi crown prince had not nothing to do with it.

When asked why the US administration did not impose direct sanctions on Ben Salman, White House media office director Jennifer Psaki said the United States did not impose sanctions. sanctions on foreign leaders – although the US administration takes action against senior officials in hostile countries on more than one occasion.

But she said Prince Mohammed bin Salman may not go unpunished forever, saying: “Of course, we reserve the right to take any action at any time and in any way we choose.”

Khadija Genghis, the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, said the Saudi crown prince lost his legitimacy after the publication of this US intelligence report.

She added, in a tweet posted to her account on social networking site Twitter: “The Crown Prince, who ordered the murder of this innocent, must be punished immediately.

And she continued, “The purpose of her punishment is not to get the justice we seek for Jamal, but to avoid similar crimes in the future.”

Cengiz’s tweet was echoed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard.

“It’s very complicated, from my point of view, to admit someone’s guilt and then tell them that no action will be taken against them,” Callamard said.

She added: “I call on the US government to take action based on its announced results to impose sanctions on Mohammed bin Salman to hold him accountable for what he has done.”