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Published photo, Getty Images
Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday it had lodged a criminal complaint with the German courts against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, accusing him of committing “crimes against humanity” in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The lawsuit, which aims to investigate public prosecutions under the laws of international jurisdiction in Germany, accuses Saudi Arabia of prosecuting Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, as well as dozens of other journalists.
“We call on the German attorney general to take a stand,” said Christophe Delaware, secretary general of the organization, in a statement.
He added: “No one should be above international law, especially when the crimes of humanity are at stake.”
It comes after Washington released a declassified intelligence report last week and said the Saudi Crown Prince approved of Khashoggi’s murder in 2018.
Khashoggi was a United States-based reporter working for the Washington Post.
Saudi officials insisted on criticizing the report that Khashoggi’s murder was a “rogue operation” in which the crown prince was not involved.
However, Reporters Without Borders said it gathered evidence of “the state’s policy of attacking and silencing journalists” and submitted it to the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany on Monday.
The organization’s report details cases involving 34 journalists imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, including blogger Raif Badawi, jailed since 2012 for “insulting Islam”.
The German court in Karlsruhe confirmed to AFP that it had received the complaint, but declined to comment further.
A mockery of justice
The trial, with Prince Mohammed bin Salman, targets his chief aide Saud Al-Qahtani, suspected of having a direct role in and planning the murder of Khashoggi, and three other Saudi officials.
Published photo, Reuters
Hatice Cengiz called the death sentences overturned last September of five suspects a “travesty of justice”.
Reporters Without Borders said that while a Saudi court convicted 11 unidentified defendants in December 2019 under international pressure, the main suspects in the case continued to enjoy “total immunity from justice.”
The death sentences of five suspects were overturned last September, in a move that Khashoggi’s fiancée Hatice Cengiz called a “travesty of justice”.
And she led a campaign to push the international community to punish Saudi Arabia for killing a citizen outside its territory.
Turkish officials said earlier that Khashoggi, 59, was strangled and had his body cut to pieces by a 15-man Saudi team inside the Kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, and his remains have not been found. been found.
The CIA and the UN special envoy have linked the murder to Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a charge Saudi Arabia denies.
A US report released last week concluded that seven of the 15 people who were members of the assassination team, who traveled to Istanbul to carry out the assassination of Khashoggi, belong to the Rapid Response Unit. . Fair “.
The administration of US President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on the Rapid Response Force, meaning any US transaction with it constitutes a crime, and the sanctions also included preventing 76 Saudis from entering the United States under a new policy aimed at tightening foreign officials. screws on dissent.
However, the sanctions did not amount to personally targeting the 35-year-old crown prince, who is de facto the head of the country and the defense minister of one of the world’s largest oil-producing countries.
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